


Birds of a Feather

by Higuchi_Sora



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Aliases, Angst, Assassins & Hitmen, BAMF Nico di Angelo, BAMF Vanya Hargreeves, BAMF everybody tbh, Blood, Cannibalism, Crimes & Criminals, Dark Comedy, Demigirl Six, Gen, I Don't Even Know, I bent reality just to give her some fucking friends, I stole children from other fandoms, Murder, Mute Six (Little Nightmares), No Incest, Nonbinary Character, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Vanya Hargreeves, Revenge, Runaway AU, Selectively Mute Six (Little Nightmares), Tags May Change, Vanya Hargreeves Deserves Better, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Vanya says Teen Rebellion, Vigilante AU, Villain!Vanya, Violence, ending the world In Style, possible eventual solangelo, the only beta is me at 4 am, we stan Elliot Page in this household
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:14:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 60,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22987708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higuchi_Sora/pseuds/Higuchi_Sora
Summary: In which Vanya Hargreeves, at the young age of fourteen, watches her father mount her brother's portrait on the wall, and decides that enough is enough.She runs away, searching for- and finding- freedom and understanding amongst some of the other 36. It isn't long before they decide to get vengeance on those who made their lives so terrible. Together, they'll watch the world burn.In other words, the apocalypse still comes, just a hell of a lot faster.
Relationships: Hyuuga Natsume & Hyuuga Aoi, Hyuuga Natsume & Vanya Hargreeves, Kali Prasad & Six (Little Nightmares), Kali Prasad & Vanya Hargreeves, Kali Prasad & Vanya Hargreeves & Six (Little Nightmares) & Nico di Angelo & Hyuuga Natsume, Nico di Angelo & Vanya Hargreeves, Six (Little Nightmares) & Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 118
Kudos: 236
Collections: Strangers Things, The umbrella academy





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's 7 a.m. and Vanya's world has shattered all over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no right to be starting a new story but I listened to Boss Bitch by Doja Cat too many times and now here I am after many months of planning. Hopefully I won't lose direction like last time and write aimlessly in the hopes of finding plot.
> 
> ALSO I mentioned this in the tags so I'll explain a little more; much of this story will be in Vanya's POV, meaning the perceptions of the characters and the world around her will be BIASED and SKEWERED because she's A: fifteen and B: Off The Fucking Rails (which is fair, considering her shitty Dad), but also means that there WILL be times where she'll look negatively at something or someone that she perhaps shouldn't, including some of her siblings. I love ALL of the Hargreeves children (INCLUDING Luther), but Vanya doesn't and she, being sad, fifteen, and angry, will NOT be as understanding or be able to put into perspective certain events as well as you or I or any other third party would be.

It’s 7 a.m. and the skies are clear, the city is safe, and the birds are singing melodically. It’s 7 a.m and the weather is warm, the parks are full, and breakfast will be ready in exactly 30 minutes. It’s 7 a.m. and everyone is dressed, children are playing outside, and traffic is slow as always.

It’s 7 a.m. and Vanya’s world has shattered all over again.

She’s in the living room this slow Sunday morning, standing in line amongst her siblings; a rare thing, as usually she isn’t wanted or needed for anything. She was nervous when summoned, and now she sees she had every right to be, as she watches her father drone on in front of her, unable to register his words. She’s long since drowned him out, ever since he’d unveiled his newest torment to his wards.

She’s sure her heart has stopped already, and for whatever reason everything sounds like it’s underwater. Her gaze, though barely working, is trained on the spot above the fireplace, where a large oil portrait of Five, her only friend, is hung proudly in the center. The painting is lifelike and unbelievably detailed, every solemn stroke of the painting appearing as if it breathed.

It is absolutely disgusting.

A complete and utter mockery of Five, the only person in this godforsaken hellhole that actually gave half a shit about her. Apparently, father wants to make an ‘example’ out of him, a ‘reminder’ of why they must obey Reginald. The bastard.

Ever since Five disappeared, Vanya’s been little more than just the backdrop to everyone’s lives. She’d already been overlooked before, but at least she was still included in some things because of Five. But she couldn’t even say that anymore, since no one in this house has spoken a single word to her since he left. The only one who seems to remember she exists is Mother, who was literally programmed to love her and her siblings. 

It isn’t surprising, then, that she feels as if she’s barely been hanging on. She originally planned on sticking around until she turned 18 and could escape to college. She dreamed of going somewhere far enough away from home, but maybe near wherever Five decided to go. They could share an apartment together, or just hang out on the weekends. Five would probably want to become some sort of doctor with a million PhDs, and Vanya would become a musician, and everything would be perfect. Everything _should’ve_ been, until Five ran out the door and never came back.

And now she's standing in the living room, watching as her shitty excuse of a father glowers at each and every one of the children, telling them that they should consider Five as good as dead. Without any further delay, he moves on and demands that they all get back to their regular schedules. With nothing left to say, everyone files silently out of the room, bracing for another oppressive day ahead.

She stays behind, for just a moment, knowing that her father won't notice since he's already in the dining room. She stands there, staring at Five's abomination of a portrait, unable to look away. Vanya didn't know this at the time, but in retrospect, she could say with great confidence that this was the exact moment that the delicate, worn threads in her mind finally _snapped._

* * *

She doesn't think about it. In fact, she doesn't think about anything at all that day. That week, even. A sort of cold feeling has washed over her, and for once in her life she almost feels at ease. Not relaxed, just- decided. About _what,_ she isn't sure, just that she has.

It becomes clear to her when, during another one of the Umbrella Academy's missions, instead of accompanying her father to watch her siblings anxiously from afar, Vanya remains in bed. She doesn't feel like getting up, so she doesn't. She lays there, ignoring the ear-splitting alarm, and waits as her mom comes in to check up on her. She tells her she can't get up, isn't feeling well, and just like that, she's off the hook. After all, she isn't Luther or Allison or Diego; she isn't needed like they are, and maybe she would've felt grateful for it if she could feel anything at all.

As soon as they leave, and it's just her and Mom and Pogo, Vanya rises from the bed and changes her clothes. She should practice, she thinks, as she moves over to her violin. If she's going to spend the whole day there, she might as well just practice, instead of wasting the hours away from her own laziness. The thought comes with a voice that sounds suspiciously like her father, so maybe it isn't all that surprising that she shoulders the case instead of opening it, and leaves her room.

Coming across the bathroom, she reminds herself idly that she needs to take her medication. She does, but instead of putting the bottle back into the cabinet she pockets it instead, and heads downstairs for the breakfast her siblings didn't have time to eat. Her mother doesn't ask her why she's brought down her case, possibly expecting her to practice in the living room now that everyone else is gone. She might have, on another day, in another life. Vanya herself even expects to, just a bit. But she can't, not with that god-forsaken image plastered on the wall.

So she finishes her meal, wanders away, and before she knows it, Vanya is in the main hall, staring at the door, at the big, wide world beyond that she can just barely see through the tiny little windows. Before she knows it, her hand is on the knob, and she's frozen, unsure, the first vestiges of emotion threatening to burst forth.

She backs away.

She turns, begins retreating further inside, wondering just what she could've possibly been thinking. She catches a glimpse of the portrait frame, and looks away as quickly as possible. Her eyes land on something shiny, a solid gold knickknack of her father's, resting on the freshly-polished decoration stand. A moment, then two, and suddenly it's in her hand, along with every other expensive oddity she can fit in her pockets- not much, but it doesn't have to be, not when they're all gold and platinum and diamond-encrusted, not when they're all _priceless._

She's back in front of the door again, but this time, she doesn't stop, doesn't blink, doesn't hesitate as she turns the knob, flings open the door, and is out without a word.

* * *

It should've been harder, Vanya thinks, as she's always expected it to be far more difficult to escape. She'd imagined suicide mission dramatics, with high-end gear and months of planning. It certainly always felt that way for her- the thought of being free from Reginald sounded like a mere pipe dream. The man was always one step ahead, and behind, and beside others. It was like he knew everything, had some guide to succeeding at everything in life. And yet, as it turned out, all it really took was one less fuck to give, and just enough time.

Vanya isn't sure where she's going, or even what to do next. She'd barely been thinking when she left, and still hasn't done much of it yet. All she knows is that she's either completely in the clear or in for the punishment of a lifetime, and isn't sure which one is scarier.

She shakes it off, and decides that there is only one way to ensure that her Beloved Father doesn't ride in with his Limo of Doom and lock her in the house as his living disappointment forever, and it's to put enough distance between them that he either doesn't bother to look or can't find her.

So she asks a random shop-owner for the nearest pawn shop, pawns the smallest of her loot, and makes her way to the train station, destination: Far the Fuck Away. She gets on, rides til the furthest stop, and train hops until she sees the advertisement on the wall of a train station. _'Chicago',_ it says.

Okay.

A few minutes later and she's on an overnight train to Chicago. Being a big city, it's unlikely that people will notice her there. She'll blend in quite well, and chances are that no one will find her, no matter how hard they looked.

For the first time, Vanya is okay with being invisible.

She sleeps better than she has in her whole life. Ironic, since she's just run away from home and is sleeping on a loud, rumbling train. Must be the freedom, she decides. She believes it up until she wakes up the next morning, utterly terrified of the notion that she is now in an entirely different city that she's never been to and has zero clue how to navigate. All she has to her name are stolen trinkets and a violin, and she knows she needs to find somewhere to stay for the night. Vanya's not the worldliest of people, but she knows that it won't be long before she runs out of stolen things to sell in a big city like this.

So, she buys herself food, grabs a tour map, and wanders aimlessly in the hopes of discovering a cheap but reasonably safe-looking motel. She won't be able to stay for long, but it's light years better than sleeping at the park and getting mugged.

In the evening, once she's found a decent enough place and has explored enough to feel better about her impulsive decision, she returns to the motel and flicks on the dingy TV. It suddenly crosses her mind that her family has most definitely returned home by now. She wonders, then, how long it took them to notice her absence, or even if they have realized it yet at all. And then, she thinks; would they be looking for me? Will they be on the news, alerting the public that Vanya, the girl they've hidden and neglected and thought nothing of, is missing?

She tells herself it isn't worth it, that if they really cared she'd have noticed by now. It's been fourteen years, and the only one remotely decent to her other than Five was Ben, who's got his and Klaus' problems to worry about. But no matter how hard she tries, she can't help the budding hope, hating how, after everything, she still wants them to notice, to care. Reginald hadn't bothered to include her in his oh-so-famous Umbrella Academy speech, nor any other time that he'd spoken of his children. Why would he talk about her now, and open himself to the criticism of the public?

And yet, Vanya is grabbing the remote and switching the channel, flipping until she finds the news station. She watches, hoping against hope, until she can't anymore. Apparently, the slightly chilly weather in Florida is the most pressing issue of the day, since that is all the news anchor's been talking about for the past thirty minutes. Two hours later and a newborn with a weird birthmark is the closest the news gets to talking about any missing person, let alone Vanya.

She would say that it shattered her, upset her, made her cry, but in all honesty, all she feels is a strong but brief wave of disappointment- and, eventually, nothing at all, just like she has this whole week. She shuts the TV off, and with it, that piece of herself. She feels cold in a way that has nothing to do with the temperature, and curls under the blankets for warmth she won't receive, opting to keep on the lights.

She doesn't sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think??? I'm kinda nervous 'cause this is kinda experimental for me. For all that I love dark humor, I've never written a story with it as the backbone, especially not with a fandom like this (y'all can be brutal sometimes ngl). I'm also planning on making the next chapters longer, so it might take a while, but at least I have a plan. Anyways, please tell me what you think in the comments! I would love some feedback, and criticism is welcome as long as it's not just a hate comment (aka actually put critique in it). Alright, that's all. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanya makes a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE 4/10/20: My fan-cast for [Kali](https://66.media.tumblr.com/a7fbad7dc59fb66aced41fd53fc95320/tumblr_msasw6lqO91qhup4ao1_400.jpg) because she's Indian/of color and her actress isn't and that ain't okay to me :)  
> TRIGGER WARNING: some creeps cornering Vanya at night (twice), implied attempted assault (but nothing actually happens or is even explicitly said) just wanna let y'all know, in case that's something you're not comfortable with reading. It's pretty brief, but I don't want to accidentally put someone in an uncomfortable headspace. Stay safe and happy, guys :)

A sweet, joyful melody fills the air of the mall plaza, breaking through the usual chaos of the big city. Every now and again, a passerby will toss a handful of change into the open case on the floor. The musician makes it a point to try smiling at the kind donors every time, a large improvement from the meek girl who’d never dare so much as make eye contact mere weeks ago.

She begins swaying to the music, just a gentle rock of her feet as the tune seems to lift her into the air with her and carry her with it. Eventually it comes to a stop, as the wind is picking up and her fingers grow sore. She blushes as some lingering listeners applaud her, thanking them quietly and grabbing her water bottle off the fountain’s edge. 

Just as she sits down at the edge to rest her feet, someone approaches her. She looks up, tensing, and comes face to face with another girl about a year or two older than her. She’s taller, too, with darker skin and a choppy haircut.

“You’re really good,” She says, and smirks at the soft ‘thanks’ in response. “I’m Kali. What about you?”

“Vanya,” the smaller girl says, both worried and hopeful. It’s been about a week and a half since she found herself in Chicago, and she’s yet to make herself a friend. Still, she can’t help but be wary. She doesn’t need to be an experienced world-traveler to know how dangerous strangers can be, no matter how harmless they may seem. The hesitation doesn’t take away her curiosity or hope, however, so when Kali sticks her hand out, Vanya shakes it.

“It’s nice to meet you, Vanya.” Kali plops herself onto the space beside her, making herself at home. “Couldn’t help but notice you today. No offense, but you seem kind of out of place. You new here?”

Vanya flushes at the ‘out of place’ comment, and ducks her head for a moment, until she remembers that she doesn’t do that anymore. “Yeah, just got here almost two weeks ago. Still don’t really feel at home yet, I guess.”

“That’s fair. Takes time to adjust.” She scrutinizes Vanya for a second, making the smaller girl squirm a little. “Hm. Y’know what, since we’re talking now, wanna go grab a bite? I’ve been here a while, so I know a few good places.” As if on cue, Vanya’s stomach growls loudly, and her face grows hot. Kali laughs and nudges Vanya’s shoulder with her own. “C’mon, before your stomach decides to eat itself alive.” Kali flashes the smaller girl a smile. Just like that, against all better judgement, Vanya’s heart floods with warmth and her defenses drop. Call it naivety, call it pure desperation and loneliness, but Vanya wants to get closer to Kali, a girl who has given her the time of day not because she’s obligated to, but because she _wants_ to. And by God, that’s the one thing Vanya’s always wished for.

* * *

It is well into the evening, and Vanya and Kali have been talking like old friends, rather than strangers that have only met this morning. Kali, being broke, can't get them anything more than street food. Still, Vanya has the best day of her life with Kali, and as she watches the sun go down, she can’t help but wish the day would never end.

“So,” Kali drawls, “what time do you have to be home? Parents set a curfew for you or something?” She looks a little doubtful at that, as if she somehow knows that isn’t the case.

“Uh, no, not really,” she admits, playing with the ends of her hair. “I- I ran away. From home. So, I guess I’ve got nowhere to be.” She doesn’t know what she expects Kali to say, but it definitely isn’t what she _does_ say.

“Welcome to the club, then,” Kali jokes. “I’ve been staying here since I got out of Indiana. Found myself a place a while back and all. How about you? You got anywhere safe to stay?”

“Yeah,” Vanya says, very relieved to have met her for the millionth time that day. “I’ve been staying at a motel so far. It’s pretty cheap, and I don’t have much, but I’ve been working for what I can with my music. It’s way better than back home, anyway.” Kali’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“Shit, well, it’s good that you’ve got somewhere warm to go at night. That’s definitely better than wandering around out here. But, since you don’t have a curfew, wanna hang out longer? We can go to my place. I’ve got a fire escape that we can sit on and throw things off of.” Vanya doesn’t really understand the entertainment of that, but assumes that she’ll probably understand once she sees it. And maybe it’s a bad idea to go to the home of someone she’s only known for a day, but it seems that her life has been nothing but Risky Behavior since she’s run away. Besides, she hasn’t had a chance to be this careless before, and really, this is the first time anyone’s ever invited her to their place. It’s such a normal, teenage thing to do, and even though this is far from a pair of high-schoolers hanging out somewhere safe, is it bad that she still aches at the normalcy?

“Sure,” she agrees, and allows Kali to lead her to her house.

* * *

About a week later, Vanya and Kali have hung out almost every single day. Usually either at the mall or Kali’s place, but sometimes they’ll go to museums or other areas that Vanya’s seen online. Once or twice, they’ve come across a public area that the Umbrella Academy has been to before, and despite the bitter memories, Vanya will hang out there, take a nice, long look at all the attractions that she never got a chance to see.

They’ve had a few sleep overs lately, to the point that Vanya’s starting to question whether it’s actually worth it to still rent out her motel if she’s not even there most of the time.

Vanya’s not really sure what Kali does for a living, but sometimes she’ll be gone for a long time and come back real tired, but with a wad full of cash. She admits that there’s a chance that her new friend is a robber, but it doesn’t make her as wary as she might normally be. After all, if they’re friends, that means Kali won’t be as likely to rob Vanya, since they share almost everything, right? And maybe she’ll teach Vanya how to avoid other robbers, because at this point, everything that’s Vanya’s is also Kali’s. 

But she isn’t all that sure that that’s all there is to it, especially when they go to grab some pizza one night, and come across someone shady. This usually doesn’t mean anything, since shady people are basically the lifeblood of Chicago, but this man seems to take a deeper interest in the two of them than most passerby normally do. They’ve gotten harassed before (they’re both young girls walking alone together at night in a big city; unfortunately, it’s almost a given), but the way that this guy sizes them up makes it clear from the start that he isn’t looking to cat-call.

Without any sort of preamble, the man pulls something out of his pocket, the gleam from the streetlamp distinguishing it as a gun. “Empty your pockets,” he says, pointing it at Vanya, likely hoping for some easy money. Vanya’s naive, but only just so; she knows that he’ll probably kill them both even if they give him everything they have.

Kali on the other hand, doesn’t seem nearly as scared as Vanya is, which is either a testament to her experience in dangerous situations, or sheer recklessness. “I don't think so,” she says, and brandishes her own gun. Vanya’s not sure where Kali could’ve gotten that from, since she’s pretty sure she would notice if the friend she’s with 24/7 is carrying, but she isn’t about to question their possible way out. “Back away, asshole.” The man seems ready to take his chances anyway, knowing that Vanya is unarmed, but all of a sudden an entire group of large men surround them out of nowhere, all training their guns at the man.

“You heard her,” one guy says, voice a deep, threatening rumble. “Now get out of here, before we fill you with lead.” Vanya’s mind is whirling, not knowing who the hell these guys are or where they’re from, but not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth. This sufficiently freaks out the man, who makes a break for it. Kali lowers her gun, and the men disappear in the blink of an eye. Vanya’s still confused as hell, even more so now that they’re gone without any explanation, but she’s got an idea of what might’ve happened. It has to wait, though, because immediately, Kali staggers, wiping her nose.

“Are you okay?” Vanya frets, hovering around the older girl. Kali nods, but Vanya can see the dark liquid smeared across her fingers.

“I’m fine,” she reassures. “It happens all the time.” Whether she means the nosebleeds or the attempted mugging, Vanya isn’t sure, but she isn’t all that keen on finding out, either. Kali studies Vanya’s expression for a while. “I guess you’ll want me to explain,” she says, but doesn’t leave time for her friend to answer. “C’mon, let’s get home. I’ll talk about it once we’re inside.” Vanya agrees, and it isn’t long before they’re eating their pizza in the living room, Kali’s nose cleaned up and free of blood.

“So, answers,” Kali starts, wiping the grease off her mouth with a napkin. She shifts to face Vanya, so the younger girl does the same. “As you’ve probably guessed, I’ve got powers. Specifically, I can make illusions- hallucinations, I guess.” As a demonstration, a bright blue light appears out of nowhere, fluttering around Kali’s head and finally landing on her fingers. Vanya gasps, recognizing it as a delicate azure butterfly perched on her friend’s hand. It flits over to Vanya next, before bursting into a shower of blue glitter just as it’s about to kiss her nose. “I’ve always been able to do that, which is why I had to run away. I’m not really sure how, but when I was a baby, these scientists found out I ave powers and took me to experiment on me I grew up in a lab until I’d had enough and escaped. I’ve been here ever since.”

“Are you- are you one of the 43?” Vanya asks, and Kali’s eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“What?”

“The 43,” Vanya repeats. “On October 1st, 1989, a bunch of women gave birth out of nowhere, even though they weren’t pregnant. A lot of those kids ended up having powers.” Vanya shoves down the bitterness in her heart when saying ‘a lot of’, knowing that she isn’t one of those many. It doesn’t make sense, though, knowing that Kali said before that she’s older than Vanya by a year or two.

Kali shakes her head. “I’ve heard about that, but that’s not it. I don’t know too much about it, but I know that I was born in 1987. I turn 17 some time in November.” Vanya mulls over this new piece of information. She’s never heard of any other incidents resulting in kids with powers before, but assumes that it’s possible that it was an isolated incident, and therefore could’ve been kept under wraps, especially if the scientists had gotten to Kali just after she was born.

Vanya accepts this new development and decides that, if Kali is going to be revealing her entire backstory to Vanya, it’s only fair if she does the same.

“Well, I asked about the 43 because I am one,” Vanya admits. “Only, that’s really all there is to me, since I don’t have any powers. Not like my siblings.” It stings still, even after everything, because she really hasn’t had time for those wounds to heal. They’ve just barely begun closing up. “I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of them, but they were called the Umbrella Academy.” Kali hums.

“Sounds vaguely familiar, but I don’t pay a lot of attention to the media, so I wouldn’t really know.” Vanya’s far more relieved about this than she probably should’ve been, even though this means she’ll have to explain more about them. This really is her fresh start now, away from people who might judge her solely based off of her connection to her siblings.

“Well, there isn’t much to say. Our dad, Reginald, bought all of us when we were babies and tried to turn us all into superheroes. Of course, since I don’t have any powers, he didn’t care about me much. Or, I guess you could say he cared about me even less than my siblings, which still wasn’t much anyway. He numbered us, no names. They all got to become world-famous heroes who stop crime as a team, and I just became Reginald’s unpaid assistant. Everyone but Five kind of just ignored me, because Dad did. And then Five ran away last year, and then two weeks ago, my dad mounted a portrait of him on the wall and declared him dead, and I just… I couldn’t take it anymore.” Kali doesn’t say anything, but grabs Vanya’s hand and squeezes it tightly.

“You got out of a shit situation. That takes balls.” Vanya snorts at the word choice, and Kali chuckles. “Hey, I’m serious,” she insists, “Not everyone can do that. But _you_ did, which makes you pretty badass in my opinion, powers or not. And look at you! You’re making a living doing what you love. Getting cash from your music. That’s talent right there. And trust me, fancy powers can’t guarantee you that.” Vanya smiles at Kali, who returns it, pulling her into a hug.

From there, it’s as if their friendship has skyrocketed to new levels, an implicit trust in them that wasn’t there before. So, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to either of them when Vanya moves in soon after. She spends more time at Kali’s apartment than her own motel, which is a serious waste of the little money that Vanya has.

Maybe she should’ve been more cautious before moving in with a girl she's just met (Kali will insist that, yes, Vanya was unbelievably reckless), but it all turned out pretty alright, anyway, so she doesn’t care to dwell on it much. It’s a pretty nice place, actually, high up with a good view of the lights of the city below. Everything is indeed quite cramped, a single bedroom the size of a cubicle and a bathroom so small that you couldn’t piss with the door open, but Vanya isn’t alone anymore, and there’s nothing else she’s ever wanted more than that. 

Besides, the place certainly has a lot of character. They’re renting and all, so they can’t paint the walls or do anything permanent, but Kali’s got a bunch of band posters and other things everywhere so it doesn’t really matter. Everything is going quite well, and Vanya can confidently say that she's happy with the way her life is. She couldn't ask for anything more. Of course, Kali seems to have other ideas, since she decides to ambush Vanya on Saturday with her newest idea.

"What?" Vanya asks, unsure if she's heard her friend properly.

"You need a makeover," she repeats. "A serious wardrobe haul."

"We don't have time or money for that," Vanya insists, but Kali isn't moved. She raises a brow and glances pointedly at the other girl's clothes. Vanya flushes in embarrassment. She's still in her Umbrella Academy uniform, as she hasn't really bothered to go shopping for anything more than food and toiletries. The most she's gotten in the way of clothes is two new outfits, which were just two sets of plain shirts and pants.

"Okay," she cedes, "maybe I do need some new clothes, but that doesn't mean we have the money for a whole new wardrobe. What about rent?"

"Already paid for the month," Kali says without delay.

"What about food?"

"We went grocery shopping two days ago."

"...Toiletries?"

"Full stock."

"...Emergency cash?"

"Vanya." The girl in question sighs.

"Alright," she relents, "we can buy a _few_ things. But not much." Kali grins, not even acknowledging the warning.

"Good, let's go now!" Vanya yelps as her friend drags her by the wrist to the door, prattling on about what Vanya might look best in.

* * *

They've been at the thrift store for about an hour now, scouring the clothing store for things that Vanya might like. She's never had the chance to figure her own style out before, so everything is new and almost completely out of her comfort zone, but she can't deny the rush she feels, the thrum of excitement in her as she tries on a store full of apparel. They try a range of things, though eventually Vanya starts gravitating towards baggier clothes with darker colors, some even from the boys' section.

Suddenly, Kali gasps, then grows a large grin on her face, wide enough to make Vanya nervous. "I've got it," she breathes, staring at Vanya in excitement. Vanya doesn't know exactly _what_ she's got, but she guesses that it has something to do with the way that Kali's examining her face, as if imagining it in another way. She grips the smaller girl's wrist tightly.

"Grunge," she whispers, as if Vanya's supposed to know what this means. But she doesn't give her time to say anything anyway, because immediately she's pulling Vanya towards the other side of the store. It's obvious that this is where her new friend gets her style, all leather and studs and skinny jeans, but Kali brings Vanya past all of that and to a section that's just a little different. The thrift store as a whole is only loosely organized, since it usually only has one or two of the same thing, but there was a general attempt to section off different styles from each other. This area consists mostly of faded blues and muted colors and plaid on every rack. Kali throws a bunch of them into her arms.

"Try it," she insists, "I think it'll really suit you." Vanya toddles awkwardly to the changing room with the giant pile of clothing she's been given, and takes a minute to even find the door behind the mountain of fabric. When she finally emerges, it's in a pair of faded blue jeans and a baggy band t-shirt. Kali examines her closely, then grabs an over-sized plaid button-up and has Vanya wear it like a jacket. Finally, she nods.

"Perfect," she says, turning the younger girl by the shoulders to face the mirror. "What do you think?" Vanya expected to look like a homeless person, or just generally not good. But she guesses Kali must secretly be a witch, because instead of an absolute loser, Vanya can't help but think she looks _cool._

"You're damn right you do," the older girl says, and Vanya blushes when she realizes she's said that out loud. "You're no loser, V, you just need to have more confidence. That's all," she assures her. Vanya thinks Kali must live to see her turn red, because she's been doing so quite often in Kali's company.

Vanya straightens her back and smiles. "Thanks," she says as confidently as possible. Kali sees the effort and rewards it by patting her back and taking her to try on more things.

* * *

By the time they're done, it's evening, and the duo decides to get some ice cream from the parlor nearby. They're standing by the counter, waiting for their cones, when Vanya remembers that she needs to take her pills again. She pulls out the bottle, and can feel Kali watching her as she downs one, and frowns at the remaining amount.

"What's wrong?" Kali asks. Vanya shakes the bottle around a little. There's only a few left, not enough to last her past the month.

"I'm running out of my meds," she explains, capping it again. "I can't get a refill now that I've left home." Kali looks at her worriedly.

"Will you be fine without them for a while? I know that you need them for your anxiety, so I'll try to help you figure something out in the mean time. But do you think you might know of any alternatives? 'Cause I don't think any pharmacy around here will be willing to get you any."

Vanya shakes her head. "I've never needed anything else. I've only gone with these since I was, like, four. I'm not even sure what's in this." Kali frowns, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Well, we'll figure something out soon enough. Until then, see if you can try stretching them out, and I'll save up a little, okay?" By then, the cones are ready, and they take them and head home.

* * *

It's three a.m. and Vanya and Kali are heading home from a night of theater-hopping. Kali illusioned them to be invisible and got them past all the employees, and then they ran from room to room watching literally anything they wanted. It was amazing, and they spent the entire night there, with snacks they'd snuck in themselves. Vanya doesn't think she's ever had this much fun in her entire life.

It was so fun that it managed to distract Vanya completely from her dilemma; just a day or so before, she ran out of her anxiety medication. In fact, she doesn't think she's ever felt happier. It feels almost as if the whole world is brighter now, the smells stronger and noises louder and colors more vivid, more _alive._ For the first time in her short life, Vanya finally feels like she's actually living.

"Happy birthday, V," Kali says, and Vanya smiles at the reminder. This past day was a birthday present for Vanya, which Kali made extra special because it's the first birthday she's ever spent without her siblings. The high she's on is almost enough to dull the painful twang in her heart at the thought, which says a lot, with how strongly she sees to be feeling everything nowadays. It kind of feels like she's drunk on her own emotions.

"Thanks, Li." Vanya says, giggling. She leans her head on Kali's shoulder as the older girl draws her closer into her side. "You're the best." They're walking through the parking lot when Kali pats her pocket and curses under her breath.

"Shit," she hisses. Vanya frowns.

"What's wrong?" Kali continues patting her pockets and looking around. "My wallet," she says. "I think I dropped it inside. Uh, here, hold this." She gives Vanya her bag and runs back inside, too panicked to think about anything other than her wallet. Vanya stands there awkwardly, unsure of what to do, and settles to stand under a streetlamp close to the theater.

Not even a full minute later, she spots a group of men nearby, talking and laughing. She looks away, hoping to not be noticed, but it's all in vain. She hears them get quiet, and feels their eyes on her, and a moment later they're calling out to her.

"Hey there," the tallest one calls. It's dark out, so she can barely make out his face, but she thinks he's in his early twenties. "What's a little thing like you doing out here, all alone?" One of his friends, a stockier one in a light jacket, snickers until he elbows him. Vanya's not quite scared yet, but she's definitely nervous. She's nowhere near prepared to handle something like this, has never had to. She's too used to being invisible to be anything else.

She doesn't say anything, refusing to so much as make eye contact. She'd run inside, but the theater has already closed so the door is locked. In order to get in, she'd have to go in through the back like Kali, but she doesn't want to chance these men following her, especially since there aren't any lights back there. Vanya opts to stare at her feet and hope Kali comes back immediately.

"Aw, c'mon, no need to be so shy," another man, a skinnier one on the left, coos mockingly at her. "We just wanna talk, that's all." Vanya shudders and presses her back harder into the lamp post.

"Please leave me alone," she whispers, eyes watering just the slightest. She's never felt smaller in her life, and distantly she searches for possible exits from the situation. If she runs, will they chase her? Will they be able to catch her? What if she trips, or they block her too quickly, or they hit her? If she attacks, will they get over their shock quickly enough to come after her? If she screams for Kali, what will they do?

"Now why would we do that? You look so lonely out here, just wouldn't be right to leave you by your lonesome." This time, it's the stocky guy that says it, and the way his tone conveys the sleazy smirk she can't see makes her skin crawl. The guy in the middle, the tallest, steps closer, and Vanya pushes further back.

"I'm- I'm just waiting for my friend," she stutters.

"Well, we can wait with you," one of them insists. "I'm sure they won't mind. We'll be your friends for the night. We'll all get real close, huh, pretty thing?" Another step, and the circle is closing in around her. If Vanya was shaking before, she's fucking trembling now, ready to vibrate right through the metal pole digging into her back.

Her heart is pounding so loudly that she’s sure the men can hear it. Her vision swims, and all she can think about is how unfair it is that she’s going to die here, surrounded by these creeps. 

“Stay away,” she mutters, barely managing to get the words out through the chaos of her mind. One of them laughs, a low, condescending sound, as if Vanya’s the most pathetic thing he’s seen in a while. Honestly, she probably is, she thinks bitterly. Because what else in the world is more pathetic than little Vanya Hargreeves, plain and untalented extraordinaire? 

She thinks she hears Kali in the distance, but she can’t be sure anymore. Her ears are deaf to everything but the blood rushing in her ears and the rapid percussion of her heart.

“Stay _away,”_ Vanya repeats, a little more firmly this time. Still, it’s not enough, and everyone knows it. The one to her right steps forward. “Stay _away!”_ Suddenly, there’s a blast of light, and something is exploding out of Vanya’s chest, and the next thing she knows, the men are sprawled out across the parking lot in a twenty-foot radius, unmoving on the asphalt. There’s blood everywhere, undoubtedly theirs, and Vanya’s standing in the middle of it all. 

"Vanya!" Kali cries, running over to her. She sees the damage all around them, and takes one look at Vanya. The look on the younger girl's face must've been quite expressive, because Kali immediately hugs her, pressing her into her chest as tightly as possible.

It takes Vanya a moment, but eventually her arms jerk upwards and wrap around Kali, and the deafening sound of Vanya's heartbeat is replaced by Kali's own. It's faster than normal, but still slower than Vanya's, and something in that calms her down. She doesn't what's going on or what any of it means, but suddenly it's easier to let all of that go, even for just a moment, and focus on her friend's pulse, a reminder of the support that she's found in this wide, wild world.

"Hey, it's okay," Kali murmurs. Vanya suspects that she's been talking for some time now, but it's hard to say, when her mind is only now beginning to clear. Kali pulls away to look at the smaller girl. "Let's go home, alright?" They leave, and before she knows it, Vanya's laying on their beaten old couch, staring at the ceiling blankly.

"So," Kali says slowly. "Looks like you have powers."

"Yeah," Vanya whispers faintly. "Looks like I do." She looks over to her side when she feels Kali gripping her hand firmly. 

"Are you okay?"

Instead of responding, Vanya asks, "Do you think they're dead? Those men, do you think I...?" Kali seems to mull over her response, watching her friend carefully.

"Does it matter if you did?" Vanya sits up.

"Kali, if I... if I... that's awful. That's _illegal_."

"What's awful is cornering a teenage girl in the middle of the night for god knows what." Kali quirks a brow, and Vanya shrinks. That's true, but that doesn't stop Vanya from feeling bad. If she killed them, those are three murder charges on her then and there. She can't go to prison, she just can't.

"V, you're not going to prison. Even if you killed those guys, who's gonna know? A wave of energy shot out of you and sent them flying. The cops are gonna have to figure out what the hell even happened first before they find out who did it, and I highly doubt a teenage runaway would be their first suspect." Vanya sighs and agrees. Even if there were witnesses, no one was going to step forward- what were they going to say, that some little girl used glowy powers to make the bad guys go flying? Despite the existence of super powers, they definitely aren't common enough for people to consider this a valid conclusion to reach. They'd sooner accuse the witness of being high or insane than anything else.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about the fact that you have powers. That you apparently didn't know anything about." Ah, yes, the most pressing question of the hour.

"I've gone literally fifteen years without so much as a hint of any powers. How is it possible that all of a sudden I have them? If they're really this explosive, I should've figured this out ages ago." And yet, it's not as if she can _deny_ having powers. The evidence literally sent three guys flying across a parking lot.

"Unless..." Kali mutters. She bites her lip, then looks up at Vanya, as if unsure of what she'll think of what Kali's about to say. Vanya looks at her with interest. "Unless," Kali repeats, "you've always had powers, and they've been hidden from you?" Vanya frowns.

"But how? Kinda hard to hide all that glowing light."

"Well, what is the one thing that's consistently been a part of your life for as long as you can remember?" The words and the look on Kali's face were both pointed, as if she's hinting at something quite heavily. She sees that Vanya doesn't quite get it, and continues. "Something that you've only recently cut out of your life? Like, only a day ago kind of recent?" It dawns on her then, and Kali can tell, as Vanya's eyes go wide as saucers.

"The pills," she breathes.

"The pills," Kali echoes. 

"But I- that's-" Vanya's breath shortens, and suddenly she's no longer surprised, but angry. Of course, of _course_ it was the fucking pills. Of course, this whole entire time, Reginald fucking Hargreeves has been manipulating her in ways that she didn't even realize. Because if he wasn't a piece of shit to her before, he definitely is now. Who else would be that heartless, as to take away such an intrinsic part of her identity? Who else would continue to do so for her entire fifteen years of life, would likely plan on doing so for the _rest_ of it, if he had his way?

But why? Why Vanya? What made it so that he believed she shouldn't be allowed to have her powers, shouldn't be allowed to be included, shouldn't be allowed to be _special?_ Why Vanya?

That train of thought causes her to deflate, just a little, and she can't help but feel a little hollow. She's finally special, but in the worst way possible, Vanya thinks. Isn't it ironic, how the world works? She voices her thoughts to Kali, whose gaze softens.

"I don't know," she admits, "He's always been an asshole, though, so it's not a surprise that he's an even bigger one than we thought before. The world's the same too, I guess. I ran away from the lab to feel normal, and now I'm anything but. The world just sucks ass." Vanya snorts at the terminology, and Kali gives her a tiny, wry smile, happy to lighten the mood.

"But hey, you know what this means?" She grabs Vanya's hands and brings them closer to herself. "This means that we get to train you to be even more kickass than you already are." The younger girl rolls her eyes, still not fully believing the praise Kali gives her. "I'm serious!" Kali insists. "You don't need powers to be a badass, but since you _do,_ it's a bonus, and we definitely have to figure out how it all works." Despite the earlier anger, Vanya can't ignore the thrum of excitement that fills her at the thought. So Reginald thought that he could just take this away from her?

She's going to make him regret that.

The thought surprises her, but before she can think better on it, she voices it. "I want to get revenge," she says. "I want to master my powers, and then I want to get revenge. He can't just get away with that. He just- he can't. He doesn't deserve it. I want to make him regret everything." It exhilarates her, the words coming out of her mouth, but even then she's worried of what Kali will think. It turns out that she doesn't have to worry, though, judging by the vicious smirk that curls Kali's lips.

"We should do it," she agrees, pulling Vanya closer by the hands she's still holding. "We should get revenge on all of them. Your Dad, those bastards at the lab- all of them. We'll make them regret the day they took us." Vanya lets out a short, harsh laugh, almost unable to believe where all of this is going, but equally unable to be anything short of elated at the thought. Her father always talked about how the Umbrella Academy was designed to save the world, and that that was his one and only goal when adopting them, training them, building the school- all of it. Well, if father dearest wants to save the world so badly, it only seems right for Vanya to ruin it.

She's going to destroy Reginald Hargreeves. But first, she wants him to watch as she burns his whole world to the fucking ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUUUNNNN!!!! Oooh, Vanya Snaps Part 2, Electric Boogaloo! What did you think? Please don't be afraid to let me know in the comments! This might be a little too fast, but I needed them to meet ASAP before Vanya ran out of meds or went broke lmao. Next chapter might be a little slower, just to add more meat to the story and not make it so fast-paced. I might have a little training montage or something, I dunno. I just really wanted Vanya to meet Kali and bond with her SO BAD! I have the order planned out for who she's gonna meet next, and all the shit they're going to do, but I think the next chapter will just be full of training and friendship and practicing on enemies. :) Hope you enjoyed, and that you'll like the next chapter! Bye!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the promised training montage. Also, Vanya finally goes on a mission of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> massive disclaimer that I DON'T condone murder, even if it's for revenge. This is a fanfiction guys, please don't murder people it's not nice :)

"Concentrate on your breathing. In for three, hold for five, and out for four." Vanya obeys the command, inhaling and exhaling slowly. She keeps her eyes closed in an attempt to achieve serenity. "Now, try to reach out for the mug." Vanya tries, unsure of exactly _what_ she's supposed to be reaching out with, but trying nonetheless. After a few seconds of silence, she gives in, slumping and huffing in frustration at the motionless mug before her.

"You'll get it soon," Kali encourages, but Vanya rolls her eyes.

"As if. Let's face it, I've spent my entire life without them. It's probably too late for me to learn." She says, scowling. She's been a lot quicker to anger, recently, her emotions strong and uncontrollable, and she wonders if it's only because of her discovery of her powers, or if other people actually feel this way all the time. She crosses her arms petulantly.

"Don't say that," Kali chastises. "You think this control comes to you instantly? It doesn't. When I first started, I couldn't even hold an illusion for longer than a split second, and even then they were blurry and translucent. It takes time, _lots_ of time, and you've only just started. We don't even exactly know what they are yet." Vanya is still frowning, but eventually she nods in acceptance, knowing her older friend is right. It's been about a week since the Parking Lot Incident, and Vanya has yet to have another outburst. All they know is that she can glow and throw people back multiple feet, and even then they aren't entirely sure _how_ she did it.

Is it telekinesis? Wind? Some other type of energy? They aren't sure, and until they are, they can't do much by way of training. All of it only makes Vanya angrier, especially with the thought of how her father probably knows everything about her powers, all meticulously detailed in his precious little notebook. She wishes she'd stolen it on her way out, but unfortunately she didn't, and now she's stuck trying to blindly explore them.

Before she even notices it, the sound of her leg bouncing against the creaky kitchen floorboards is all she can hear, and everything is boiling over. "This is all so _stupid!"_ Vanya snarls. The anger must've gotten the better of her far more than she'd realized, because suddenly the cup explodes, causing both girls to shriek. They look at each other in alarm, and then back at the shattered mess.

"Okay, so I guess it's safe to say they're at least _partially_ tied to your emotions," Kali says before moving to get a trash bag. Vanya nods slowly and follows after Kali, grabbing the dish rag and wetting it to collect all the tiny shards. "Is there anything else you think might've triggered it? Maybe a tugging in your gut, or a pulsing in your hands? Some noise or feeling? I think it's different for everyone, but for me, my nose always kind of itches right before I use them. Probably because it knows the blood is coming."

Vanya thinks back for a moment. "When I ran into those guys, I could only hear my heartbeat. I thought it was just adrenaline, but just now, all I could hear was my leg bouncing. It was like the sound got so loud, that everything else got drowned out, and suddenly the mug was in pieces." Kali nods.

"That must be it, then. Your powers are probably auditory. Maybe you need to hear a specific sound to make it work, like a certain beat or tempo. Or maybe you just have to pick a sound and focus on it? Maybe it's a combination?" Kali shakes her head. "Whatever. We'll figure it out soon enough. We just have to keep trying, alright?"

"Alright." Vanya says.

* * *

As a way to calm down and pass the time, Vanya spends the afternoon playing her violin. She's been frustrated, but she also knows that stewing in her frustration won't get her anywhere. So she grabs her violin and allows her hands to do all the work, and before long, she's playing a piece from Beethoven, one of the most recent songs she's ever practiced. The lilting tune floods the dingy apartment, and Kali smiles at the sound as she washes the dishes.

For all that she is a novice on the topic of classical music, she loves hearing Vanya play. She thinks the younger girl could really make a career out of this, not simply as some street show to pay rent, but a full, professional one, with concerts held in big theaters in front of rows and rows of people.

Kali sways a little, though she'll never admit it, and it's only when she stops that she notices the strong breeze in the room- the room that, for the record, has no open windows or even an AC. It is, after all, mid-October. Kali turns around, stunned by what she sees. The papers in the room flutter, the cool air not blowing hard enough to cause any true harm. Kali searches for the source of the wind, following a strong hunch, and finds Vanya in their bedroom, the wind blowing strongest around her like a soft tornado.

Kali claps as Vanya plays her final notes. "So, I guess it's safe to say that your powers are _very_ linked to your emotions." Vanya looks around the room in surprise, the last phantoms of a breeze still lingering as she does. She grins.

"Guess so. Does that mean I've gotta, like, meditate or something? Y'know, open my third eye so I can use my powers?" Kali scoffs.

"I sure hope not," The older girl says, "we don't have room for yoga mats and Positive Thinking tapes." Vanya snorts at the thought.

* * *

"Okay, let's try this again. Pick a sound, focus on it, and _then_ try to push the mug." Vanya nods and closes her eyes. She takes a deep breath, and the steady beating of her heart gets louder and louder until it's the only thing she can hear. Finally, she tries to will the cup to move.

A small creak sounds in front of her, and she opens her eyes as Kali exclaims in excitement. The cup was shoved roughly ten or so inches away from its previous spot. Kali high-fives Vanya.

"You did it!" She says, eyes bright. Vanya's cheeks feel warm, and they kind of hurt from how wide she's smiling.

"I did it!" Vanya echoes.

"I told you it just takes time," Kali says, and slings her arm around the shorter girl's shoulders. "All you have to do is practice, and eventually you'll get the hang of it." Vanya's too excited to do more than squeal and hug Kali back.

They spend the rest of the evening practicing, and Vanya's tired out her mind by the end of the night. She falls asleep with a smile on her face. Over the next week or so, Vanya continues to make progress steadily. She occasionally has small outbursts and loses control, but it hasn't been anything major or amongst large groups of strangers, so they consider it a success so far.

One day, they decide to go to a cafe for a well-deserved celebration. Kali, who admits that she indeed does some illegal things from time to time to acquire cash when unable to find normal jobs that don't ask too many questions, had stumbled upon a jackpot on her last gig. This allows them to splurge, just a little bit, and they end up buying a bunch of pastries. Not enough to be considered expensive by normal people's standards, but as two teens barely managing to afford their apartment, it's the smallest of luxuries. Still, it's nothing short of happiness for them.

Suddenly, the smile dies on Kali's face, eyes trained on something behind Vanya. The younger girl frowns, and turns to follow her line of sight. All she sees is a tall old man ordering something from the front counter. She turns back to her friend, who is still staring him down. "What's wrong?"

Eventually, Kali's eyes meet Vanya's, wide as dinner plates. "It's him," she whispers, "One of those lab bastards. I- I know him. He used to- he electrocuted me, all the time, if I didn't do what they wanted. He's- it's him, I know it." Vanya puts down her doughnut, then calmly leads Kali by the hand into the empty bathroom.

"What the fuck is he doing here?!" Kali slams her fist into the wall, ignoring the pain in her knuckles as she does so. "What fucking right- how in the hell-" She can't seem to voice her thoughts through the sheer frustration she feels, so she settles on a snarl. "It's not fair." She finally mutters. "It's not _fair."_ Why does _he_ get to walk around all free and happy and careless, when he did all that he's done to Kali? And she knows she isn't the only one, either. She doesn't remember much, not from the early days, but she gets flashes sometimes, of blonde hair and big brown eyes and another number tattoo. Kali is fairly certain there have been others, as well, can remember freckles and auburn hair and steel grey eyes, a collage of pieces of other people's faces.

She isn't sure how many of them there are, but if she's number eight, then there's bound to be at least seven more. She's reminded, suddenly, of sleek black hair and nails chewed down to the nub; a chipped front tooth, a long, thin scar. And she knows for certain that she isn't the only one. But whoever they are, _wherever_ they are, there's no guarantee that they're safe, or free, or willing to see her. There's no guarantee that they're even _alive,_ and Kali doesn't have the will to put her hopes into things like that.

She's brought back to the present by a soft, small hand on hers. It's Vanya's, and the reminder keeps her calm. She doesn't need to chase hopeless ideas, not when she's got Vanya, something real, something _concrete_ and already hers right here with her now. Vanya gives her a tentative smile, and Kali smiles back. "We're gonna make them pay, remember?" Vanya whispers. "We're gonna make each and every one of them fucking pay." It should sound odd, hearing such harsh words coming from such a small, gentle voice, but it fills Kali with a sense of vindictive joy instead, to be able to pick out the underlying anger in Vanya's tone.

"You think it's time?" Kali asks. Vanya's small smile curls into something larger, darker, and Kali _knows._

"No time like the present, right?" She says. "I think it's time to see how much I've learned."

* * *

They follow the man home, at a safe, inconspicuous distance. They need to see exactly what they're dealing with, from where he lives to who he's with and how likely they are to get away with this. It should be fine, since there's no known link between the girls and this man, not as far as the police are likely to find. Besides that, neither of their prints are in the system, because for all the illicit activities she's dabbled in, Kali has never been caught.

They stake out his apartment, and take all sorts of pictures. At some point, they make the decision for Vanya to knock on the door. Kali isn't sure if he'll recognize her, since she hasn't seen this man since she was twelve, but she isn't willing to chance it, nor is she sure if she'll be able to control herself once they're face to face.

Vanya tamps down on her nervousness, knowing that it might cause a power outburst if she isn't careful. She's got a game plan- she's going to appear as a lost tourist and ask to borrow a phone to call her family. While she's inside, she'll try to figure out if he's living with anyone, or expecting visitors anytime soon. Hopefully, this building doesn't have security cameras, because she doesn't feel keen on being questioned by the police.

She steps into the building, glancing behind her back to see Kali dip into an alleyway. She takes a deep breath and approaches his apartment door, wringing her hands. After another moment to herself, she knocks on the door as confidently as possible.

The man answers the door a few seconds later, a confused but thankfully unsuspecting look on his face. "Hello, can I help you?" Vanya smiles as widely as deemed socially acceptable, hoping he doesn't detect the pure contempt she holds for him.

"Hello!" She greets brightly. "This is Hailey Brown's apartment, right?" The man frowns.

"Uh, no, there's no Hailey here, sorry." Vanya pretends to be surprised.

"Oh, okay. I'm so sorry to bother you, but I'm supposed to be visiting my friend, and I guess I got a little lost. I- I'm just visiting the city, so I'm really not sure where I am. Um, you- you wouldn't mind if I borrowed your phone, would you? My dad took mine yesterday because I was using it during dinner, and I really need to call someone to come get me." She puts on her best wide-eyed, hopeful face, imagining she's six years old again and asking to go play with her siblings. The man seems uncomfortable at the request, likely feeling something is wrong, but he ultimately concludes that there isn't much that a random teenage girl will be able to do to him. Against his better judgement, he agrees. It is a grave mistake that he will later regret.

"Uh, sure, I guess," He says, and moves to the side to allow her in. "I've got one in the kitchen you can use. My cell's charging so I don't want to unplug it. It damages the battery, you know." He shows her the phone, and she thanks him kindly, grabbing it and dialing the first number that comes to mind. She regrets it immediately, however, because it isn't long before someone picks up.

 _"This is the Hargreeves residence. How may I help you?"_ The voice that greets her steals her breath, just a little, because it's been too long since she's heard Pogo's calm, gentle tones, and the monkey sounds sadder and more tired than she's ever heard him. _"Who is this?"_ He says, after a long bout of silence. Vanya remains at a loss for words. There's even more silence, until Pogo speaks up again. _"...Miss Vanya? Is- is that you?"_ He sounds so hopeful that it breaks her heart, until she suddenly thinks of something.

Reginald knew about her powers, and chose to suppress them with medication. Obviously, if Vanya doesn't remember, then neither does her siblings. There's even a chance that Mom doesn't know, depending on when he actually started medicating her. But Pogo...

There's no way Pogo doesn't know.

He's been by Reginald's side since before she or her siblings were even born, and it isn't like he can just wipe out Pogo's memories like he can with Mom's hard drive. Unless he's hidden her powers since the day she was born (which is highly unlikely, even for Reginald), and chose to hide it even from Pogo, whom he tells almost everything, there's no way in fucking hell Pogo doesn't know.

Suddenly, she doesn't miss him as much. Suddenly, she feels angry, again, for the millionth time since she's run away from home. Suddenly, she wants to punch Pogo's face in. So she hangs up, completely ignoring Pogo's desperate calling of her name. She smiles tightly at the man, who has been lingering at the doorway of the kitchen as casually as possible. "They didn't pick up," she says. "Sorry. Can I try another number?" He agrees and Vanya punches in a number that is blessedly fake, pretending to talk into it for a few minutes.

"I love you too," she says, "I'll be waiting outside, okay? Alright, sorry for worrying you. Bye." She hangs up, hands the phone back, and gets the hell out as soon as humanly possible.

Kali's waiting for her in the alleyway still, and immediately knows something is wrong. "What happened? What did he do?" Vanya shakes her head.

"Just nerves." She insists, even though Kali can tell she's lying. "Don't worry about it. Now what?" Kali reluctantly moves on after a second.

"Well, we should head home and figure out everything else from there," she says. "Do you know if he lives with anyone?"

"There aren't any pictures of anyone in there, and I didn't hear or see anyone. I, um, didn't know how to ask, though, I'm not good with small talk. Kinda wigged out. Sorry."

"It's okay." Kali assures her. "We'll have lots of time to practice."

Once home, they bring out a notebook and sit together on the couch. "Alright, first thing's first. His place is about forty-five minutes away from ours, and there doesn't seem to be very good security at his place. There's a back door by the dumpster, though, in case there are too many witnesses out front. We should probably wear disguises, just in case someone sees us, so maybe a hoodie and a mask? Though masks are pretty noticeable. They might notice us _because_ of the masks." Kali muses.

Vanya hums in contemplation. "How about clothes that cover our face? Like hoodies or baseball caps or a scarf that we can use to hide our mouths? It's not all that cold yet, but it's starting to get more chilly, so maybe people won't notice all that much if we wear a scarf."

Kali nods at Vanya's suggestion and adds it to the notes. "That works," she agrees, "but we'll probably have to get our hands on some masks sooner or later. His security is pretty trash, but that doesn't mean all the other targets will be the same." Vanya thinks about the ADX Florence-level security Reginald has, and finds her self agreeing. If they get caught or even noticed by witnesses or cameras, they'll be pretty much fucked.

"Now, I know this was more of an unspoken agreement, but we really need to be on the same page about this so I'm going to ask anyways. Are you okay with killing them?" Kali looks Vanya dead in the eyes. "You don't have to kill this guy specifically, but I need you to know without any doubts that I'm not planning on letting him live. I want to kill my own targets, so if all you want to do is help me out, then that's completely fine. But I want those bastards off the face of the fucking earth." Vanya meets Kali's gaze with what she hopes is confidence.

"I want them gone, too." She says. "They hurt you, destroyed your life, and they don't deserve to get away with it. No matter what way you want to get rid of them, I'll support you, okay? Though I hope you don't mind if I kill some of them myself, because I want to be ready when I go after Dad." Her wry smile is a welcome one to Kali, who punches her shoulder.

"Look at you, growing up so fast." Kali pretends to sniffle. "I'm such a proud older sister." Vanya groans, fighting the grin on her face.

"God, shut _up._ " she whines, sounding every bit like the 15-year-old girl she is. Kali chuckles and steers them back on track.

"So, I'm going to use my Glock, because unfortunately my powers aren't violent, but since this is practice I'm assuming you want to use your powers?" Kali asks. She adds it to the notes, reminding herself that they'll probably have to shred the paper once the job is done. "Honestly, we might as well rob him _then_ kill him. God knows we need the money, and the neighbors won't wait long after the gunshot. We're going to have to be fast. As soon as we kill him, we get out, okay? We'll take the back door, and no matter what you can't lose your cool. If you seem nervous or in a hurry, someone's going to notice." Vanya runs the plan over in her head.

"Alright, I think I can manage." Honestly, it doesn't seem real, but there's no way she's just going to back out.

"Good. Now, I've got a box of latex gloves in the bathroom. We need to wear those so the cops don't find prints." She then scrutinizes Vanya. "You should probably wear your hair up, too, since it's so long. Don't want it getting caught on anything and leaving strands behind. We should take a backpack since we're robbing him, and maybe some duct tape." They finish planning and preparing within a few hours, and before long it's dark out. They head back over to his place, and Kali leads Vanya to the back door. It's unlocked, and they slip in without any issue.

They climb the stairs, and Kali steps aside to let Vanya open it. She could do it herself, but past this point Vanya probably won't be getting much use of her powers, so she figures she might as well let her do this one. Vanya takes a deep breath and focuses, and after a few seconds the door opens with such force that it slams into the wall. The girls grin at Vanya's accomplishment, even as the man comes rushing out of the back room. His eyes land on Vanya first, looking at her in surprise and confusion. But before he can get any words out, Kali pulls out her gun and storms inside, Vanya following suit and shutting the door behind them. The guy splutters, raising his hands in the universal sign of surrender.

"Hey, I- I don't want any trouble." He stutters. "Just- just take whatever you want, alright? I won't even report it, just-" He whimpers when Kali shoves him onto the couch. Vanya turns on the TV and pulls up the volume to muffle any noise in a stroke of personal genius. Kali hands the backpack to Vanya with one hand, the other still aiming the gun at her target.

"Tape." She says, and Vanya pulls the duct tape out and tapes the guy's hands behind his back, then does his legs. She moves to tape his mouth shut, but Kali stops her. "I want him talking for this." She explains. "Search the house in the meantime."

Vanya lingers for a second, feeling somewhat disappointed that she didn't get to do much of anything, before leaving anyways. There will always be a next time.

"What- what do you want from me?" She can hear the man squeak behind her, and Kali lets out a low, dry chuckle.

"I knew you probably wouldn't recognize me, but fuck, that sort of stings." Her tone is almost playful, but it's still too angry for that. "I've been waiting for this for years. It's about time you get what you fucking deserve."

"What- what do you mean? I don't- I don't know you! I haven't done anything wrong, I swear, I _swear."_ He's full on sobbing, now, and perhaps Vanya would feel bad for him if she didn't remember the look on Kali's face when she saw him in the cafe that morning. Motherfucker is lying through his damn teeth.

"Oh, you don't, do you?" Kali croons. "Well, I'll admit, I looked very different back then. I was much younger. So small and helpless. I guess it's a good thing that I'm unrecognizable now, huh? But don't worry, I can help you remember." There's a bit of silence, and Vanya doesn't know what Kali is doing, since she's too busy pulling out all the drawers and dumping the contents onto the floor in search of valuables. She finds old trinkets, like watches and even some jewelry, likely from some old lovers of his, and shoves everything she thinks she can sell into the bag.

"Remember me now?" Vanya blinks in surprise. The voice is definitely female, but she sounds about seven years old. She pokes her head out of the bedroom to find a little girl standing in front of their victim where Kali once was, and the man screams. In the blink of an eye, Kali is there again.

"You! I- how did you-? They told me you were dead!" This, evidently, is exactly the wrong thing to say.

"Oh? They did, did they? I suppose that was enough to clear your conscience, make you think you could put your past behind you, lay your demons to rest? You tortured a little girl, but somehow it's all okay now because she's six feet under and won't live to tell the tale? _Is that it?"_ Kali snarls, shoving the nozzle against the target's temple. He sobs harder. "What was it that you said again? That you didn't do anything wrong?"

"No, no! I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry. I've done a horrible thing, I know. I'm so fucking sorry! Please don't hurt me, God, don't hurt me," There are fat tears streaming down his face, but if anything it makes Kali glow with glee. "I left from the guilt, I couldn't take it. I knew that what we did was wrong! I'll never do anything like it again! _Please!"_ He keeps wailing, but Kali doesn't seem to hear him anymore.

"You're right. You won't do it again. And I'm going to make sure of it, by blowing your fucking brains out." Kali turns to meet Vanya's gaze. "You done yet?"

"Almost," Vanya says, and keeps kicking around the apartment in the hopes of finding something good. She already snatched his wallet from the kitchen counter, and at some point she even took some of his food just because. It's not like he's going to be needing it after this. "You think we should take his phone?" Kali mulls over the thought, then shrugs.

"Might as well. But turn it off first, so it can't be tracked." Suddenly, there's a loud banging on the door, and Vanya nearly jumps out of her skin. Kali presses the gun even closer to the guy's head and hisses, "Not one fucking sound." He nods profusely, sweating buckets. They all remain silent, waiting out the visitor.

They keep knocking for a few more seconds, before giving in. "Hey!" The person on the other side of the door yells. "Turn down your fucking TV! My fucking kids are trying to fucking sleep, asshole!" They keep grumbling, but eventually the footsteps recede. Vanya checks through the peephole and confirms that the disgruntled neighbor has left.

"All clear." She says. Kali nods.

"Good. I guess that means we're done here, huh?" She smiles at the man, who for a second looks almost hopeful that they'll be spooked into leaving early. No such luck, of course. "It was nice seeing you again." Kali says sweetly. Vanya snatches the doorknob in preparation. Not a second later, Kali pulls the trigger.

The bang is so loud that one of Vanya's ears is ringing, and there's blood on the walls and on Kali. Vanya swings the door open and flies down the hall, Kali hot on her heels. No one in the neighboring apartments is stupid enough to open their doors, but Vanya still feels as if there are eyes on her, staring through the peepholes, or invisibly crowding around her as she books it down the stairs and out the building.

Her hair is still up and hidden by the baseball cap, but she knows that the hood of her sweater has already fallen, and somehow it's enough to make her feel naked as she throws open the back door. She stops once she's outside, still feeling the need to run but remembering Kali's advice. The girl in question is right behind her, slamming the door shut before grabbing Vanya by the shoulder.

"We did it." She says, gasping for breath. She pulls down her own hood, examining the sweater for any visible bloodstains. She's wearing black to hide the blood, but there's still some spatter on her face, which she wipes off with her sleeve. She then steers Vanya out of the alleyway, pace slowing to a leisurely stroll. "We fucking did it." It's only then, through the bullet-quick pounding of her own heart, that Vanya feels how exhausted she is. She's never had to run like this before, too used to being cooped up in the house or watching her siblings work from afar. Her joints ache, and her feet feel quite abused. Her lungs are beaten, and she's basically putty now, from sprinting down three flights of stairs (because whichever psychopath built this apartment building didn't make a fucking elevator). And yet...

And yet, as Kali slings an arm around her shoulders as they head down a more populated road, they meet each other's gazes, eyes wide and pupils blown; and before they know it, laughter bubbles up from their throats, and they're cackling like madmen, leaning on each other to keep from collapsing as they stumble down the street. People are looking at them almost amusedly, seeing not robbers and murderers but a pair of stupid, giggly, _ordinary_ teenage girls having fun and being young, and it's so damn funny to Vanya that it makes her laugh harder, knowing none of them will ever know what she and Kali have done. And perhaps it should be some sign, some form of foreshadowing or dark omen, but Vanya has never been happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, let me know what you think! I hope y'all liked it! I wanted it to seem like they're steadily getting wilder, especially with how nonchalant they are about planning a guy's murder. At this point, she's been missing for about a month and a half. I think the nerves will really start kicking in the day after, just like a hangover or a bad aftertaste of some food, but I just can't wait to get to the REAL shit that I'm after, with the blood and the gore and the unhinged!Vanya who will genuinely enjoy being a villain. Not just to seek revenge, but just to be evil. But I promise I'll try to make that progression make sense, and not just jump right into it! Already you can see the warning signs at the end, but I won't let it happen TOO too fast. :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another mission, another friend. The police are smarter than the girls think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just learned that Kali's actress Linnea isn't Indian or even of color? I Googled it and she's completely Danish and just happens to have dark skin, so she's actually white ethnicity-wise? I think she's a great actress, but I don't appreciate that, considering 'Kali Prasad' is very clearly an Indian name. As a person of color who sees that BS 24/7, I don't fly w/ that. So I've fancasted a new Kali. I found her on Google images so idk much about her, but I know that she's (ethnically) Sikh Indian. Her name is [Neelam Gill](https://66.media.tumblr.com/a7fbad7dc59fb66aced41fd53fc95320/tumblr_msasw6lqO91qhup4ao1_400.jpg), and I'm using an outdated picture of her because she's 24 now and Kali is supposed to be 16.  
> 

When Kali wakes up the next morning, it's to the sound of Vanya pacing around the room. She sits up in bed, scowling at being awoken so unceremoniously, but Vanya either doesn't notice or doesn't care.

"V, w'ss wrong?" She asks, slurring almost every word.

"Holy shit," Vanya murmurs, not even bothering to respond. "Holy _shit."_ Kali sighs, knowing that whatever this is, it's a big deal to Vanya, meaning she isn't about to calm down anytime soon.

"What, V?" She asks, again, scooting closer to the edge of the bed towards her panicking friend. She idly glances at the clock. "It's four in the morning."

"Li, we _killed_ somebody. We- oh _fuck."_ Kali blinks, unable to hide the surprise at Vanya's language. Kali herself has never been shy of such words, but she hasn't heard Vanya say anything worse than 'shit' yet. Well, until now. Kali reaches forward to grab the younger girl by the elbow, guiding her into setting on the edge of the bed as well.

"I see that you're having second thoughts." Bit late, Kali thinks, but she doesn't voice it, knowing Vanya is already halfway to hysterical. It doesn't stop Vanya from letting out a dry, almost incredulous laugh, though, likely thinking the exact thing that Kali is.

"Just a month ago I was practicing violin and crying into my pillows at night. And now I've fucking killed a man, Li. _We_ killed a man. I just-" She loses her words, unable to voice whatever else she's feeling, but Kali doesn't need her to say it to understand it.

"Well, technically _I_ killed a man, while you robbed him," Kali mutters, but the weird noise Vanya makes in the back of her throat has the older girl changing her tune. "Hey." She grips Vanya's hands, causing the smaller girl to look up at her with wide, half-crazed eyes. "Vanya. Do you regret going after him?" She keeps her voice void of any emotion that could possibly sway her friend's response. Vanya searches Kali's eyes for a minute, for something that neither of them are even sure exists.

"He deserved it," she whispers, though it sounds so hollow that something pangs in Kali's heart. "He deserved it, he had to die. It wasn't fair that he was alive. I just- I never thought I'd- that I could-" she chokes up again, and takes a deep, shuddering breath to fortify herself. "No. No, I don't regret it. I just-" She bites her lip, looking up at Kali again. "Don't _you?"_ Kali remains still for a moment. To be entirely honest, most of the reason why she's managed to stay calm for so long about this is because she hasn't allowed herself to think about it at all.

If she thinks about it, well, she isn't sure how she'd react. She's learned a very long time ago how to dissociate herself with reality, detaching from the torture they'd inflicted upon her at the lab. She supposes she hasn't really stopped since then.

"No," she finally answers, "I don't. It's not easy to kill someone, but I think I'd regret it more if I saw him yesterday and let him live. But that doesn't mean that you have to feel the same." Vanya thinks about it for a moment, still biting her lip. Eventually, she nods.

"He deserved it," she echoes, a finality to it that denoted her decision. "It's better that he's dead, the same way that the world would be better off once my dad is dead, too. I'd rather they be six feet under than wandering free, and that won't happen unless I make it happen." She squeezes Kali's hands tightly, takes a deep breath, then stands. She's made her decision.

"Alright," Vanya says, "it's settled."

"You good?" Kali asks, still a bit cautiously. Vanya nods and smiles.

"Yeah, I'm good. Now I'm just hungry."

Kali laughs. "We literally ate, like, two or three hours ago."

"I know, which means it's time for me to eat again!" She pulls Kali up from the bed. "Let's go out to eat!" Kali shakes her head, chuckling. Where all those calories go, Kali will never know.

* * *

They take a booth in the back of a Mexican restaurant, stuffing their faces with food bought with their stolen money. Halfway through her meal, Vanya wipes her mouth with a napkin and leans forward.

"I think we should make a list." She says. Kali raises a brow.

"A hit list?" She asks through her bite of enchilada. Vanya rolls her eyes.

"Sure, if you want to put it that way. But I'm thinking we should do some research, you know? Find their names, addresses, then... y'know." Kali finds it funny that Vanya has no problems planning a murder-robbery, but can't talk about a hit list without dancing around the words.

"Okay," Kali says, "But where do we start? We can't even afford Wi-Fi."

"That's what the library is for." Vanya says, proud of her idea. Kali groans.

* * *

Despite Kali's doubts, they head to the library to do some digging once it finally opens. Kali never knew much about the people who kidnapped her, nothing beyond descriptions and single names, but it is a good place to start. It isn't long before they have a working list to do a deep-dive with.

"Alright, so let's start by looking at land deeds and other housing contracts. You said the lab was in Indiana, right?" Kali nods.

"Hawkins."

"Okay, so that must mean that they lived nearby, especially if it was really as out-of-the-way as you said it is. The are two other small towns about thirty minutes out, and the nearest other town is hours away, so most of them probably lived somewhere within Hawkins or those neighboring towns. No one making a daily commute is going to want to travel five hours just to get to work every morning."

From there, they looked at first names. Kali is sure there was a Morrison there at some point, but most of the records for house owners nearby are of men or elderly women, and Kali distinctly remembers Morrison to be a woman in her thirties, meaning she couldn't have been older than her mid-forties now. Eventually, they find an Evelyn Morrison, who they look up and find a news article on. Apparently, she did quite a few noteworthy things in the past, some time before joining Hawkins Lab.

It is the exact woman staring back at Kali in the photo, and Vanya records the information. They spend the rest of the day there, only taking breaks to eat before going back to the computers. In the end, they get 10 people before the restlessness starts to set in.

"Can't we at least pick the locals off?" Kali asks. Vanya frowns, contemplating it.

"I don't know, wouldn't it be better to get the whole list down and then go after them?" After all, who is to say one of the others might fall off the face of the earth while they're on their killing spree? Wouldn't it be best to get all the facts and be able to keep tabs on them first?

"But what if one of them dies or something while we're still holed up in here, Googling names and addresses? Or what if they move away or change names or whatever, and then our information becomes outdated? It'll take forever to find all of them online, especially since not all of them even had their information available. Evelyn Morrison was a stroke of luck, just like with the cafe. What if we just as _them_ for the information? They've worked together for years, they're all bound to have some kind of information or contacts with each other." It's that last bit that finally gets through to Vanya, who seems to mull it over before finally nodding.

"Alright, next time, we interrogate them first."

It's not long before they choose their next victim; Henry Everett, a man in his mid-forties that used to record the scientists' observations during their experiments on Kali. They spend a little longer on Henry, trying to be more thorough this time than the last. They didn't leave anything behind, or incriminate themselves in any way, but that doesn't mean they could just slack off. There is always room for improvement.

Besides, while the police aren't necessarily hunting them down, the murder was only a few days ago. It wouldn't do to make the cops think they have a connection, even in as chaotic and dangerous a city as Chicago. So far, they seem to believe it's an open-and-shut murder-robbery, perhaps related to a local gang or some other criminal, and the girls would like to keep it that way.

They spend two agonizing weeks on this one, both as a cool-down period and as a way to formulate a plan. Henry is a trickier target than the first, since he's married with children, two of whom are young enough to have not moved out yet. He has a dog, too, and has clearly put his Hawkins Lab money to good use, as he's bought himself a single-family home in the middle of a big city. It's possible that he has an alarm system wired in as well, but the girls are unable to determine that without approaching the house, which is a problem, since they aren't sure if he has security cameras, either.

"Maybe we should get an upgrade," Vanya says suddenly. Kali looks up from their notes to look at her in confusion. Vanya is still staring out the living room window, tapping the pen against her lips as she thinks about it.

"What?"

"We don't know what kind of security he has, right? So maybe we should get some disguises or something. Y'know, keep ourselves anonymous."

Kali hums. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. We could probably get some masks or something. And some wigs or whatever for when we scope out the inside. But nothing too fancy, or it'll make it easier for them to find where we got our stuff and who we are."

Vanya smiles and adds it to their notes. "Perfect. We can go buy our stuff after we get the groceries. Now..." Kali waits with a raised brow as Vanya beats around the bush.

"What is it, V?" Vanya gives her a somewhat sheepish smile.

"Code names?"

Kali snorts. "What? This isn't a spy movie, V. People don't do code names."

"Yes they do! They've got aliases and stuff. And besides, what if they have audio recordings in there somewhere? Like, if their security cameras have audio too? We don't want them to hear us using our real names. That could make it easier to catch us!" Kali doesn't look impressed. "Aw, come on, please! It'll be great! Come on!" Vanya continues to plead with Kali for a while, until she groans.

"Okay, okay! How about we compromise, alright? We won't use each other's names while we're in there, and you can start using code names once the police starts realizing the crimes are connected. Sound good?" Vanya nods. "Good. Now, let's start figuring out how we're going to get him alone."

* * *

After hours of brainstorming, they begin putting their plan into action. They buy their masks and wigs in different costume stores; a pair of cheap plastic Halloween masks, plus some cheap wigs, one of each per person. They're kind of expensive, but they figure the costs are worth it when trying to conceal their identities. Then, they stalk their target like no tomorrow. It's a bit tough, seeing as Henry now works a normal office job, meaning they can't watch him as closely during most of the day. But this is usually when they use their time to scope around their house, and though they can't find any security cameras for certain, he does have some type of alarm system.

They test it by visiting the house one day. Vanya's in a baseball cap and one of the wigs they bought, waiting patiently after ringing the door bell. She hears the dog barking loudly inside, and someone chiding it as they approach the door. She smiles brightly as Henry's wife comes into view, unlocking the door and trying to block her dog from escaping.

"Can I help you?" The woman asks.

"Hello! I'm Candace. I'm so sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could let me borrow your phone? I lost mine on a bus and now I'm lost, so I was hoping I could call my parents?" Mrs. Everett blinks in surprise.

"Oh, of course! Come inside, come inside! All you alright, honey? The city's real dangerous for a young girl like you to be out without help. Are you new to the area?" Vanya nods as she's ushered inside.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm mostly just here to visit my cousin Hailey, but I lost her somewhere, so I'm just trying to see if I could get a hold of anyone." Mrs. Everett guides Vanya into the living room, before giving her a landline. She's quite the sweet woman, which makes Vanya feel a little guilty for what she and Kali are about to do to her family. But Henry isn't the man Mrs. Everett probably thinks he is, and the guilt isn't enough to convince Vanya to let him go.

The woman chatters on to Vanya as she bustles about the kitchen, asking her if she'd like something to drink or eat. Vanya rejects it politely, not wanting any of her DNA to wind up left at the crime scene. She makes her fake calls, pretending to get directions, then hangs up and thanks Mrs. Everett for her kindness.

"Oh, it's no problem! You're such a polite girl." Mrs. Everett says, smiling widely. "I wish my son was more like you. He always complains when I ask him to do anything!" Despite finishing her fake call, Vanya sticks around for a moment longer, trying to gain some Intel.

"This is such a lovely home, ma'am. Are all houses in Chicago like this?" She asks, faking awe. Mrs. Everett blushes.

"Thank you. I picked it myself. Unfortunately, no. In a big city like this, people are often much less fortunate. But there are others more fortunate, too."

"Well, that's certainly true. I just think it's so pretty. But I don't see any security besides your dog! Isn't that a danger, with all the crime in Chicago? I've seen people with houses half the size and beauty of yours with cameras and alarms everywhere. You should look into some upgrades!" Vanya wonders where all the confidence is coming from, to be able to hold a conversation like this so nonchalantly. She chalks it up to the first night; now that she's committed her first murder-robbery, nothing else has felt like much of a challenge.

"Oh, my husband talks about that stuff all the time. He keeps mentioning how much safer our house would be with cameras. But I'm not having any of it! Who knows what those security people could see? Sure, they might say they're not watching, but we don't know that. I don't want anyone spying on my kids! An alarm system is enough for me." Oh, poor Mrs. Everett. Perhaps if she'd listened to her husband, she wouldn't be speaking so openly with his future killer. Well, even with all the security in the world, Vanya and Kali would have come for him eventually. So maybe it really _doesn't_ matter.

"I agree. I've heard all kinds of news stories about people's security systems getting hacked and recorded against their will. A real nightmare, I say." Vanya says. Mrs. Everett nods, glad to have someone agree with her. They talk about a few other things, since Vanya claims her parents will pick her up in thirty minutes, and she doesn't want Mrs. Everett to remember that the only thing they talked about is her home security.

Now that she's gotten the lack of cameras confirmed, Vanya doesn't need anything else. She's admittedly a bit bummed that the wig is for nothing, but decides that it's better safe than sorry, and that they might come in handy in the future. Or, well, now that Mrs. Everett's seen her, it's kind of already in handy. She makes her exit smooth but quick to avoid suspicion without lingering long enough to run into the rest of the family.

When she meets up with Kali again, she relays the information to her. Kali's not happy with how blunt Vanya was when asking about their home security, but figures Vanya will have time to learn. At least Mrs. Everett didn't see her full face, since she kept her cap on the entire time.

They debate whether or not they should wait until a day comes that his family is out of the house, or if they should use some type of ruse to lure them out. After all, it isn't his family's fault that Henry's a despicable piece of shit. But they can't think of a proper way to make that work, so they finally decide to lock them in their rooms and deal with Henry one on one.

They wait a few weeks, in the hope that it'll be harder to connect them with the crimes. Finally, they enact their plan at nightfall, as usual, late enough for the kids to already be in bed. They approach the house with their masks on, and ring the doorbell like normal people. If the Everett's didn't have an alarm system, they would've forced their way in, but they weren't sure how the entire family would react to that.

It turns out to be a good move, since Henry ends up being the one to open the door. Before he can say anything, Kali's got her gun aimed at his face and the girls are forcing their way inside. They force him to sit at the kitchen table, away from most of the windows, then tie him up. Vanya moves upstairs to find the bedrooms. The kids are both asleep with the dog, so she blocks their doors from the outside with furniture. Mrs. Everett is still in her room, drifting back off to sleep when Vanya enters. Her eyes widen and she tries to scream, but is silenced when Vanya puts her hand over the older woman's mouth.

"Shh," she whispers, a finger to her mask's lips. She points out the hall in the direction of the kids' rooms, then shushes the woman again. Mrs. Everett nods slowly, and Vanya finally lets go of Mrs. Everett's mouth, only to duct tape it and bind the woman's hands. (She is grateful, in that moment, that she managed to get Kali to buy her cotton gloves.) Afterwards, she searches the bedroom for any valuables, stuffing as many of them as she can into her bag, before waving Mrs. Everett goodbye and closing the door.

Downstairs, Kali is still in the middle of torturing Henry. His gag has been taken out, and Kali is grilling him for the names and locations of the other scientists.

"Henry, if you just tell me what you know, this can all end now. You don't want to make it worse for everyone, do you?" Kali asks.

"I swear, I don't know, I don't _fucking know!"_ He screams. Kali slams the butt of her gun against his temple.

"Didn't I tell you to be quiet?" Kali says. "You don't want your family getting caught up in all this, do you?" The man shudders, and shakes his head. It is mostly an empty threat, since the girls have agreed to leave the families alone if they can help it, but it's not like Henry will ever know.

"Please, please don't hurt them, they've got nothing to do with this." He sobs. Kali leans forward.

"Then I suggest you tell me anything and everything you know."

And like a waterfall, the words tumble out of his mouth, and Kali is writing down every bit of it. Vanya continues to ransack in the background, sweeping entire shelves full of nick-knacks into her Robbery Bag. Eventually she runs out of space, and sits at another seat to watch the show.

"I- I don't remember his first name, but I know there was a Michelson that I worked with once. Uh, I think- I think he was older than me, maybe by a few years? He- he kept talking about retiring to Arizona, said he had family there. He kept talking about a Carla, but I didn't see a ring, so I'm not sure if she was his wife or what, but- oh, oh! There, uh, there was a Sarah Reynolds! She- she specialized in blood- uh, analyzing it and all that. She was around my age, red hair, tons of freckles, I think she was divorced. She had a- a picture of her kid, in her office. She- she made a transfer, to- California, don't know the city. And- and then, there was- there was this one guy-"

Once Henry has given them everything, Kali pockets her notepad. "You've been quite useful. I would thank you, but." She shrugs, then pats him on the cheek with the nozzle of the gun. "It was nice to see you again, Henry. Goodbye." Before the man can say anything, Kali aims the gun at his temple and fires. They hear noises upstairs, and they bolt out the door.

As they run down the street, they rip off their masks, in case someone spots them. The residential area is a lot less busy than the rest of the city, especially at this time, but there are still people lingering about, so it isn't long before they're slowing down their pace and trying to look as nonchalant as possible. Winter isn't far away, so the air is certainly more chilly than they're prepared for.

"We should really get you some winter clothes." Kali murmurs. They've yet to buy her a winter jacket, but with the coming of the colder seasons, it's going to be a necessity soon. Vanya nods.

"As soon as we pawn this stuff, we can have another shopping trip." She says. Her eyes light up. "I saw some really cool ankle boots in the store the other day. Can we go buy them on our trip?" She asks hopefully. Kali smiles, slinging an arm around Vanya's shoulder. Kali will make sure there will come a day that Vanya doesn't worry about getting her hopes shot down.

"Sure." Kali agrees. "As long as it doesn't break the bank. But I'm sure it won't, especially after what we've managed to collect tonight." She eyes the bulging bag. It certainly looks like they've gotten quite a lot this time. This will be good.

* * *

Once they get home, they add Henry's information to their special Revenge Box, which is really just a craft box with their research, gun, and disguises stuffed in there. They don't pawn all their stuff immediately, knowing that doing so would make it easier to find them.

Instead, they spread out their items and sell small amounts over a period of time to shops and shady people in odd corners of Chicago that won't ask too many questions. The police still don't seem to think they're connected, as home invasions happen almost every day, even ones that end in murder. But Vanya's still worried that they made the wrong decision by leaving Mrs. Everett alive. She didn't deserve to die, but that doesn't mean the girls can afford a witness.

Still, nothing seems to come of it, so they move on.

The shopping trip ends up being a lot of fun. Vanya ends up getting those boots she liked, and she starts wearing them almost every day. She never thought that she'd have such a fascination with fashion, but realizes that it's a form of expressing oneself in a way that also makes you feel good about yourself, and so she takes to it like a house on fire.

Kali thinks it's quite cute, seeing Vanya so thrilled about it. As she watches Vanya spin around in front of the full-length mirror, something crosses her mind. "You ever think about cutting your hair?" The sudden question startles Vanya, who stops spinning.

"What?"

"You had bangs when we met, but since you haven't been cutting them, they're getting pretty long." She puts her hands on Vanya's shoulders, turning her to face the mirror. She plays with the younger girl's hair as she speaks. "You can keep them long if you want, but I think it'd look really cool if you got it cut. Maybe about here. See?" She pulls back Vanya's hair to show her the approximate length. Vanya stares at herself in the mirror, contemplating the suggestion.

"Hmm, I guess. You really think it'd look nice?"

"Definitely. You look kinda like a schoolgirl right now with your long hair and straight bangs- which, y'know, is still cute, but I think shorter hair might fit your new style better."

"Hm. You're right." She turns to Kali and smiles. "Does that mean I'll get to look as cool as you do?" Kali laughs.

"Even cooler."

Three days later, Kali seats Vanya in front of the bathroom mirror. It's cramped as fuck, but it's the only mirror in their apartment, so they make do. Vanya can't stop smiling as Kali prepares to cut her long locks. She feels it's symbolic, in a way that even the change of clothing isn't. She's not sure why, but the change in hair style feels more like a fundamental shift than even the killings.

"We should go for the tousled, kinda messy look." Kali comments. "With the kinda choppy ends and all that. Make you look extra punk."

"You're just saying that because you can't cut hair right." Vanya says cheekily. Kali rolls her eyes.

"Shut up. Don't sass the girl that's got scissors this close to your head."

Vanya giggles.

An hour later, and Kali is pulling the makeshift smock off of Vanya, taking the stray hair with it. As she cleans up, Vanya hops into the shower to wash her hair. "Let me know when you're done and I'll show you how to blow-dry it." Kali says, dumping the trash.

"Who taught you to be a hairdresser, huh?" Vanya teases. "You open up a shop somewhere without telling me?"

Kali snorts. "Nope. This is a total experiment." Vanya's eyes widen in horror and Kali laughs. "Dude, I do my own hair. How else do you think it's kept short? Sheer willpower?"

Vanya admires her new hair in the mirror once they finish. It's neck-length, and the slight dampness from the shower leaves the hair slightly wavy. "I'm guessing you like it?" Kali asks. Which is a stupid question, judging by how Vanya launches herself at her friend, hugging her tightly.

"It looks so good! _I_ look so good! Oh my God!"

"Okay, okay!" Kali says, patting Vanya's back. The girl is basically limpet at this point. "Down, girl, down!" Vanya sticks her tongue out at the older girl, pulling back. "Congrats on your new hair, V. You're officially an emo loser."

"I would complain about your teasing, but I'm on Cloud Nine right now, so I'll ignore it and pretend it didn't happen. Now let's go plan another crime, before the high wears out!" And so she drags Kali out of the room and to the Revenge Box.

Which is how they end up at Steven Wang's house, having selected him from the roster of targets. It's only been about a week since the last murder, a lot shorter of a cool-down than the last time, which took weeks. This is partly due to Vanya's enthusiasm, and partly due to the little security Steven has. He's got a dog and a roommate, but that's basically it. As it turns out, the dog isn't even an issue, since the Chihuahua does little more than yap aggressively before whimpering and running away. The roommate is out for the night, off to some club with his friends.

There unfortunately aren't that many valuables in Steven's home. Nothing more than his watch and wallet, which has about twenty bucks in it, leaving Vanya free to join Kali in the murder.

"I'm glad to see you remember me." Kali says softly, lifting Steven's chin with her gun. "That definitely saves us time. Because what I want to know, is where all your little friends are."

"I don't know what you're-" He grunts as Vanya punches him in the face.

"Don't." She warns. "We know you do. You've worked with them for years, you're bound to know _something._ A location, a name, a number."

Kali taps Steven's forehead with the gun. "We can help you remember, if you'd like. We're very helpful like that."

"I don't have them memorized-" He chokes up when Kali presses the gun harder into his head, and Vanya grabs his shirt collar. "But! But! I- I have list! I have a list of- of contacts, there's some- some old friends, from the Lab, their n- their names, their numbers, all- all of it! You can take it, it- it's in the top drawer of my- of my nightstand, in my room." He tells them which bedroom is his, and Vanya goes to find it.

It's exactly where he says it is, tucked neatly underneath old photographs and self-notes. Just as she pulls it out, she hears a loud noise from back in the living room. She runs, finding Kali struggling against Steven, who must've been distracting them with all of his chatter while he was undoing the binding, since he's now free and fighting for the gun still in Kali's hand.

A stray gunshot goes off, shattering a lamp. Steven trips Kali, and soon both are tumbling to the ground and a second stray gunshot goes off as both of them lose their grip on it. The handgun clatters across the floor, and without thinking about it, Vanya dives for it.

She snatches it up before either of the other two can make a move, feeling the slightly stippled grip digging into her palm. She raises it, and Steven scrambles up off of Kali, hands up in front of him.

"No, please, don-" That's all he can manage to say before Vanya's firing, one, two, three times, until he falls to the ground completely still.

There's no time to think, because there's no way the neighbors haven't heard. They've doubtlessly called the police by now, and there's no telling how long it'll take before they get here. Vanya pulls Kali up and they're grabbing their things and sprinting out the door before Vanya has time to worry. Luckily, Steven lived on the third floor, which is much closer to the ground than their first victim.

Vanya's baseball cap nearly falls as she practically flies out of there, the adrenaline numbing her body and carrying her the whole way. She can see her hands starting to glow, and she tries to mute the world around her to keep from blowing something up. Once outside, her delicate control over her powers start loosening even more, and the things around her are shoved and torn and tossed into the air. She doesn't stop for longer than to make sure Kali is still okay, and they don't stop running until they make it to the nearest bus stop. The man waiting there gives them a funny look, but Vanya's too tired to make an excuse.

"Didn't want to miss the bus." Kali says between gasps for breath, and the man just looks away. The girls take a seat on the bench, and Vanya sags into the metal. Still, her eyes remain wide and wild, completely keyed up, and they stay that way until they board the bus. As soon as they're in their seats, Vanya slumps into the older girl, practically melting. Her bones feel like jelly, and her lungs like a pair of balloons being squeezed until they pop. It hurts just to breathe.

It doesn't take long for her to fall asleep like that, all the energy draining out of her. Kali nudges her awake once they arrive at their stop, and she allows her friend to lead her home, stumbling sleepily as Kali drags her by the hand. They're home before she knows it, dumping their things at the door and crawling under the covers.

* * *

The next day arrives, and it doesn't feel real.

Nothing does, not since she grabbed that gun and pulled the trigger. She doesn't regret it, but she also doesn't really feel proud. It is simply an action that she took to save her only friend. She'd do it again, should she wind up in the same situation, and that thought, plus the acknowledgement that she knew this was bound to happen once she agreed to go down this path, is enough to make her move on.

Perhaps one day it'll hit her, that this is really happening, or maybe it already has, after the first time she ransacked a guy's apartment and watched Kali shoot him in the head. Regardless, Vanya feels fine. Beyond that, she feels justified, when remembering the way Steven had pinned Kali down.

Maybe, she thinks, she _is_ a little proud. She protected her best friend. She, Vanya, was useful, was able to protect someone.

Maybe she even liked it.

They spend the rest of the day calmly, not really doing much besides laze about the house. At one point, Kali goes down the block to check the news (as they still don't have TV or Wi-Fi), and notices that once again, no one is talking about their crimes.

When Kali returns home, Vanya is practicing a song on her violin. She's honestly more upset about the way she lost control last night, than she is over murdering a man. Which is a surprise to Kali, but apparently not to Vanya.

"He was going to hurt you." She says. "He already has hurt you. I wasn't going to let him do it again. Losing control of my powers... you could've gotten caught up in it. I don't know what I'd do if I hurt you." And then goes right back to playing her instrument.

"We should go eat out." Kali says. Vanya stops playing again.

"Again?"

"I'm sorry, do _you_ know how to cook?"

Vanya hums. "We should really invest in a cookbook."

"So... cafe?"

Vanya huffs. "Might as well."

* * *

"Thank you for coming in, Mrs. Everett. Is there anything we can get you?" The officer gives her a warm smile, and the woman shakes her head.

"It's fine. I just- do I really have to be here? I've already given you my statement. What more do you need?"

"I apologize for making you go through this again, but I assure you we are trying to help. We would like to ask you some more questions about the intruder that you saw that night. Is that alright?" The officer asks. Mrs. Everett takes a deep breath, then nods.

"Okay. What do you need to know?"

"What do you remember about the intruder? Anything particularly noteworthy?"

Mrs. Everett snorts. "What, you mean besides the fact that they broke into my home and murdered my husband?"

"Ma'am, I didn't mean it like that. I just need to know if there was anything that they did or said during it that seemed odd. Like, if they walked with a limp, or their fingers twitched, or they made a clicking noise. Anything at all, even if it's less subtle than that, anything could be a great help."

The widow sighs heavily, thinking for a moment. "Um, I guess that they might've been unarmed?" At the officer's look, she elaborates. "I mean that I never saw a weapon. But it's pretty terrifying to turn around and find a masked person standing over you. I, I told the other officer this, but I was mostly asleep when they came in. They put their hand over my mouth, and shushed me. They never said a word, but they pointed at my kids' rooms and shushed me. I was scared. I thought they meant they would kill my kids if I didn't listen, so I didn't do anything. But the whole time, even after they tied me up, I never actually saw a weapon." She runs a hand down her face. "God, I'm so stupid. I just assumed they were armed. If I'd just..."

The detective rests a hand on her arm. "It wasn't your fault, ma'am. You were trying to survive, and protect your kids. That's nothing to be ashamed of."

Mrs. Everett doesn't seem to believe him, but she nods anyways and clears her throat. "They didn't really pay me much attention, they just shuffled through my things, took our valuables, and left." Suddenly, her brows furrow. "But..." The officer leans forward.

"Yes?"

"They ignored me, but when they left, they waved me goodbye." She finally looks up at the officer. "Does that count as something strange?"

"It certainly is strange." The man agrees. "What about what happened after they left the room? Did you hear or see anything then?"

"I didn't see anything. But before the gunshot, I... I heard Henry. He was screaming something. I couldn't really make out all the words, but I think... I think he said he didn't know, or something to that effect."

"Didn't know what?" Mrs. Everett shrugs.

"I have no idea. There was just muffled shouting, and then he got louder and said 'I don't fucking know'." Her eyes are starting to tear up again. "What do you think they were after? What did they think he knew?"

"I'm not sure yet, ma'am. I'm very sorry." Mrs. Everett can't hold back her tears anymore, and she begins to sob loudly. The officer offers her a box of tissues, which she takes a handful from. After she manages to pull herself back together, he dismisses her, apologizing for the additional stress this has caused her.

Just before she leaves the room, she freezes, then turns back around. "Is something wrong, ma'am?"

She frowns, thinking hard. "No, I just... I just remembered, all of a sudden." The officer gives her a look of interest. "Their hands. They were strange."

"How so?"

"I- this might sound odd, but they just didn't seem like the hands of a robber." She shifts, feeling flustered with how stupid she believes she sounds. "Like, they weren't rough or big or hairy, like in the movies. They were... small. They were really, really small. And soft. I could tell, even through the gloves they were wearing. Even though I was scared out of my wits, and even with the creepy mask, the hands just didn't feel... scary." Mrs. Everett looks almost worried. "Is that- is that strange?"

"It isn't strange of you to think that way, Mrs. Everett. Criminals come in all shapes and sizes, no matter what we might expect." He smiles kindly at her, even as his mind is whirring a hundred miles per hour. "Thank you for coming all this way." She nods, and leaves the room.

Immediately, the officer goes to find one of his coworkers. "Can you pull up the recording of Naomi Everett's statement from last week?" His coworker blinks in surprise, but does as he asks.

"Any reason, Callaghan?"

"Yes." He says, and leans over their shoulder to watch the video eyes narrowed.

_"Mrs. Everett, can you tell us what happened that night?" The detective asks from behind the camera. Mrs. Everett clears her throat._

_"It was... late. I think a little before midnight. Everyone in the house was asleep, including my- my husband and I." She chokes up at the memory of Henry, but soldiers on. "Um, we woke up to someone knocking on the door. Henry told me to stay in bed, that it probably wasn't a big deal and that he'd take care of it." Her eyes start watering, and she takes a moment to herself. "I was about to go back to sleep, when I heard the bedroom door open. I just thought it was Henry, so I didn't think much of it until- until I turned around, to ask him who was at the door. But it wasn't him. It was some- some freak in a mask, and I tried to scream, but they put their hand over my mouth, and they shushed me, then pointed down the hall, to my kids' rooms. I thought- I thought they were threatening to hurt my kids. So I stayed quiet, hoping they'd just take whatever they were there for and leave. They duct-taped my mouth shut, then taped my hands to the bed, and then ransacked my room. I, uh, I heard some screaming downstairs, I think it was Henry. And then, I- then the gun, it-" She puts a hand over her mouth and closes her eyes, taking a few deep, shaky breaths. "I heard the gun go off. And then the front door slammed shut. I was still tied up, so I couldn't do anything, even though I heard my kids calling for me."  
_

_"Could you tell us what the assailant looked like?"_

_"Well, uh, they were wearing a mask, like I said. I couldn't really tell what it looked like, it was so dark. I could barely even tell what they were wearing. But the mask, it... looked like one of those Party City masks. The plain, plastic-y ones. I couldn't tell the color, though. I'm assuming white? It looked pretty light, but it was dark, so." She shrugs helplessly. "I- I don't know."_

_"Is there anything else?"_

_"I couldn't see their hair, so I assumed they were bald, but it could've been a hat or a hoodie... They were standing over me, so it was kind of hard to tell at first, but when they started walking around the room, I realized that they were short. They were barely taller than my dresser, if that. I could hear their heavy boots, so they could've been even shorter than that. That's- that's pretty much it."_

_"Thank you, Mrs. Everett."_

The video continues for a few more minutes, but Callaghan already has everything he needs from it. "Now pull up the neighbor's statement for Wang." Rainer huffs, grumbling about being ordered around, but complies anyways.

_"Could you please state your name?"_

_"George Stanton."_

_"Can you tell us what you saw, Mr. Stanton?"_

_"I saw two people running like the devil himself was after them, right out of Wang's apartment."_

_"And what time was this?"_

_"About 4:45. I go to work real early, right about 5:30, so I was getting myself ready to go. Walk the dog, water the plants, all that. I was leashing Bailey up when I saw them."_

_"Can you walk us through it, step by step?"_

_Stanton clears his throat. "Okay. Well, like I said, I was about to put Bailey on her leash so we could go on a walk, when I heard gunshots go off. Five of them, I think." He adds, before the officer can ask him to elaborate. "It was two rounds, and then a pause, and then the other three together. Just about scared the hell out of me. I peeked through the peephole in the door, and that's when I saw them, almost flying down the stairs, they were. I was too scared to walk Bailey after that, but I knew if I didn't she'd go all over the carpet, so I waited a few minutes and then asked my other neighbor to do it for me while I was at work."_

_"Could you describe the suspects?"_

_"There were two of them. They both wore hats and dark clothes, but I could see one of them had long-ish hair. Maybe right about here." He gestured to the area just below his shoulders. "But I can't say for sure. Again, they were fast. Hell, I would be, too, if I'd done something like that. I couldn't really see their faces, though. Like I said, they wore hats and kept their heads down. But, uh," He scratches his scruffy chin, "even from where I was, I could tell they were short. Especially the first one, couldn't have been taller than 5"5, and that's being generous."_

_"No mask?" Stanton looks taken aback by the question._

_"No, no mask. Not unless they bought one of those creepy skin-looking ones. Why?"_

_"Just a question."_

Callaghan stops the footage, then looks at Rainer. "I asked Naomi Everett if she remembered anything strange about the killer. She said that their hands were small and soft, even through the gloves." Rainer's eyes grow wide. Short, small and soft hands, 'long-ish' hair; even the fact that they didn't go out of their way to kill a house full of witnesses... "I think we're looking for a pair of women."

* * *

It's nighttime, and Vanya and Kali are finally on their way back home. Even though they were only supposed to have lunch, they ended up staying out all day. Once it starts getting a little too dark and chilly, they decide to call it a night, buying themselves some Chinese take-out to bring home for dinner.

"Okay, wait. So you mean to tell me, that you _waved her goodbye?_ After you took her shit?" Kali's voice is incredulous, even as Vanya shushes her aggressively. "V!"

"I was trying to be polite!" She cries, and Kali rolls her eyes. "What? She was nice! It's not like I meant to traumatize her. She was just in the way. I wanted to let her know that it wasn't personal!" At Kali's stare, Vanya adds, "Well, not against _her,_ anyway. Her man can rot in hell." It's Kali's turn to shush Vanya, who laughs again as they turn down the alleyway that usually makes for a shortcut.

Immediately, their words die, along with their smiles. At the end of the alleyway, they spot a small, yellow figure. The person is curled into a ball, and even from this distance they can see how violently they're shaking. There's a much larger figure towering above them, closing in on the tiny yellow shape. Before either of the girls can think, they're sprinting towards the two, yelling at the top of their lungs.

"Hey! Get the fuck away from them!" As they approach, the larger person jolts, and seems torn between backing off or trying their luck against the girls. Now much closer, they see that the bigger figure is a scruffy-looking man with wild eyes, and the yellow figure seems to be either a young girl or an even younger boy, in a large hooded raincoat. The man stumbles back, but before either Vanya or Kali can do or say anything further, the twitching, trembling figure seems to snap, and launches themself at the would-be attacker.

The man screams, falling to the ground, as the raincoat-kid pins him down. It's dark, so it's hard to tell, but Vanya could swear that she sees pure darkness beginning to take form and swirl around the child. They snarl, and suddenly they're tearing out his jugular with their bare teeth. The man's screams cut off, and he makes a wet, strangled gurgling sound. The fight is drained from his body as the kid continues ripping at his flesh, until the darkness disappears and all that's left is a mangled corpse and a blood-soaked kid.

Large, dark eyes watch them from underneath the hood, wild and darting like a cornered animal. Kali and Vanya stand in silence for a heavy moment, staring back at raincoat-cannibal-kid. Then, Vanya snatches Kali's wrist, stealing her attention.

Her eyes are almost as wide as her smile as she exclaims, "Oh my God, can we keep them?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant it when I said shit was gonna get wild :)  
> 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hargreeves' return home from the mission. Vanya and Kali learn a lot about their new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I'm sorry for taking so long, school's been a real bitch :( And even though I didn't plan on showing the Hargreeves until later, I honestly didn't really know what to put in this chapter to make it longer, so I kinda just jammed them in there to beef it up a little lol. I know some people were curious about what they're thinking right now, so I hope they're happy with how this turned out! I honestly just want to get to introducing all the other members and shit to get this story REALLY going, but I don't want to just throw one new character after another at you guys, so I'm trying to put at least a chapter or two in between each newbie. Anyway, without further ado, please enjoy!

To be entirely honest, it takes them all almost an entire day to notice.

Perhaps that doesn't sound like a very long time, but for a family who is under constant supervision by the patriarch, who also refuses to allow them outside almost ever, it's the same thing as not realizing for a week.

Sure, Vanya has never been the most noteworthy of Hargreeves siblings, but it is still a bit of a shameful point- especially since it hasn't been long since Five's own disappearance. In their defense, they'd been quite tired when they came home. They'd just returned from a mission, and all anyone wanted to do at that point was shower and sleep. They barely even registered each other's presences, let alone Vanya's, a certified Wallflower.

They'd washed, eaten, got a post-mission briefing from dear old Dad, then all passed out in their beds. None of them even questioned it until breakfast the next morning, upon standing around the table, waiting for Reginald's arrival, and realizing that there are three empty seats instead of just two. Still, they chalk it up to Vanya sleeping in- Diego even makes a snide comment about it, seeing as _they_ are the ones who have been out saving lives and deserve some extra hours, not the girl who does _nothing._

It's only when Reginald arrives and commands them all to sit, nary a Vanya in sight, that the children begin to exchange glances. Perhaps Vanya is simply sick? Lord knows how she's managed to catch anything, seeing as she never leaves the house, but perhaps she fell asleep without drying her hair, or maybe kicked the blankets off herself while sleeping and froze?

All of the excuses fly out the window when Reginald's eyes snap towards her seat halfway through the meal, and a scowl forms on his face. He slams his utensils down. "Grace." He calls, and the robot in question smiles warmly at him. "Where is Number Seven?" Grace freezes, and there's a long silence before she responds.

"I... am not sure, sir." She says, much to everyone's surprise. "She's most likely in her room, still sleeping. She was feeling unwell yesterday morning, so she might still be sick. Shall I get her for you, sir?" The kids all look at each other. Grace has never not known where the kids are, or what they're doing. They hold to a strict schedule, and though she's not always in the room with them, she hovers often enough to cross paths with all of them at least a few times a day- _especially_ when they're sick.

"Yes." Reginald says. "If she is not unwell, then she will be punished for refusing to keep on schedule." Grace glides out of the room, still smiling blissfully. The kids slowly return to their meals, until Grace comes back into the dining hall alone, large smile just a little bit stiffer.

"Sir, she isn't in her room." At this point, none of the kids- not even Luther or Allison- bother to pretend to still be eating. Where the hell is Vanya?

Reginald's expression turns stormier than normal, and he gets up from his seat. "Very well." He says, and leaves, likely to check the security cameras. The children don't know what to do, but Grace encourages them all to eat again.

"You're going to need lots and lots of energy today to grow big and strong! Won't you, honey?" She pets Diego's head, and the boy blushes bashfully, before stuffing his face with renewed vigor. Luther, never to be outdone by the second place, also joins in, chomping down with much gusto.

It's during lessons with Pogo that they all finally get some answers. As shameful as it is to admit it, the thought of Vanya has already left their minds by that point. The girl's absence is so easily overlooked, it's as if she'd never lived with them in the first place.

Pogo seems quite distracted all throughout their lessons, almost downright depressed. After being badgered by them a couple of times, the ape finally relents. He takes a deep breath, as if whatever he's about to say is going to take a lot out of him. "As I'm sure you've noticed," he begins, "it seems that we've lost another Academy member." They all look around in alarm. Who could he be talking about? Five's gone, yes, but all of the others are still here, One through Six. The lost looks on their faces both disappoints and pains Pogo, which the butler doesn't have the energy to hide.

It's only Ben who seems to connect the dots, staring at the desk farthest away from everyone else's. But Pogo is talking before Ben gets the chance to say anything. "It seems that Miss Vanya has disappeared. Your father said that the cameras recorded her leaving some time yesterday morning."

They squirm in discomfort at the realization, recalling the awkward breakfast, and the fact that they hadn't seen her since the night before the mission, since she hadn't come down for breakfast then, either.

"Where did she go?" Luther asks, confused. Why would she run away? And where to? She doesn't know anyone or anything outside of the Academy. What could she possibly hope to achieve by doing this?

"I'm afraid we're not sure." Pogo says, sounding more tired than ever. "She did not notify anyone, nor did she leave a message or clue."

"Is she coming back?" Ben is almost afraid to ask this, knowing that if they don't know where she went, they probably don't know when she'll return, either. But he has to ask.

"I certainly hope so." Pogo responds. The room is silent for a minute, as if already mourning her death. After all, if Five can run off and manage to die somehow, Vanya doesn't stand a chance.

"I can't believe she didn't take me with her." Klaus laughs, though his voice and the joke both fall flat. "I'm such an amazing tour guide, and it's not like I've got anything better to do here, anyways." Ben doesn't even have the heart to reprimand him, because he knows this is Klaus' way of feeling better- he's scared, Ben knows. He's scared that she'll be dead and he'll have to see her. But he's even more scared that he _won't,_ just like he can't see Five.

It doesn't take long before that for the subject to change. Somber or not, Pogo cannot neglect his duties. He has children to teach.

* * *

Maybe it is the way they've been raised, or how often they've trained as a team, or something inherent in all siblings, but the children all wind up at the same place during their free period.

One by one, they trickle in, finding themselves standing in the middle of the living room, staring right at that damned portrait. Five's face looks colder than it ever has, and they can't even bring themselves to look it in the eyes.

They're all silent, not sure if there are even words for something like this. They just shuffle their feet and stay there. The strange spell that fell over them is broken by Luther, who asks, "where do you think they went?" He's quiet, but still it sounds too loud. They all look at each other.

"Not the same place, probably." Allison says. "But maybe somewhere pretty." She tries her best to comfort Luther, offering him a small smile, but it does neither of them any good.

"Do you think they'll come back?" He asks next, almost pleading for reassurance. No one says anything to that. Ben can see Diego brooding, and before he can stop him, the knife-thrower's anger boils over.

"Who even cares, anyway?" He snaps. "She ran away. She didn't disappear, she didn't get kidnapped or wander off and get lost. She _ran away._ They _both_ did. Why should we fucking care? What did she even need to run for, anyway? It's not like she's got anything going on. She literally gets to sit around all day on her fucking violin. What's she got to worry about? Five, I understand; annoying as he was, he had to put up with shit like the rest of us. But she's got no fucking excuse."

"But that's just it, isn't it?" The anger in Ben's voice startles everyone else. He speaks calmly, and yet he somehow sounds even louder than Diego. He hasn't said anything since Pogo broke the news, and perhaps that's also part of why everyone's so uncomfortable. "'Who even cares?' Who _did_ care, Diego, when she was still here? Does anyone know the last time they'd spoken to her?" The looks on their faces are answer enough, but that doesn't make Ben settle. If anything, it riles him up more. "No one's said a word to her since Five left. And I'm not saying that like I'm excluded; I know I haven't spoken to her in a while either, and even though I've got my reasons, that still doesn't mean I couldn't have tried. But at least I admit it, instead of fucking complaining about how much shittier Dad is to you than he is to her! You ever think that maybe that's why she left? Not because of Dad, but because of us? Because of Five? I mean, seriously. Without him, who else did she really have?"

The room is silent again, as Ben tries to catch his breath. He looks around the room at his siblings' faces. The thing that shocks them, above anything else he's said, is the curse that left his lips. They, unlike Klaus, have never heard Ben swear before. It's almost enough to make them forget about what he was actually talking about, but not quite.

Allison purses her lips, unable to find the right words. Luther's eyes are just wide, and Diego looks like he's torn between wanting to scream at Ben and storming out of the room; likely because he doesn't know what to do or say, either. Klaus looks completely stricken, and somewhat abashed. Sure, he's never been the closest to Vanya _or_ Five, and he's been a bit too busy being high as a kite all hours of the day, but as the Umbrella Academy's designated Useless Extra, he feels rather ashamed that he didn't notice how Vanya's been doing this entire time. He, out of everyone else, should know what it is like to be overlooked by their siblings, by their _father,_ and it sparks guilt- warranted or not- in his chest.

"You ever think that maybe she left because, without Five, we're all as good as strangers to her?" With those final words, Ben leaves the room.

Perhaps he is being too harsh. Perhaps he is being too forgiving of Vanya, seeing her in a rosier, more romanticized light than she deserves. But that doesn't change the fact that they all could've done better. Not only for her, but for each other. Klaus is fucking killing himself in front of everyone, Diego has the emotional intelligence of a peanut, Allison thinks manipulation is a perfectly sound method to building relationships, Luther has no sense of self-worth outside of their father's permanently shitty opinions of them, Five is fucking _missing,_ and Ben... well.

He's got his own demons, too.

* * *

It's been a few months since Number Seven's disappearance.

No doubt, after Number Five's brainless decision, his little shadow followed suit, incapable of functioning without him.

Reginald would say that it is a shame, except it is not. Just like Number Five, Number Seven is no great loss. If anything, her disappearance is a blessing. The only concern he's had about it is the revelation of her abilities, and what might become of them should she run out of medication. But cameras show that she took her full bottle before leaving, and it's highly unlikely that she even survived long enough to run out of a month's worth of medication. Timid, useless girl that she is, it is preposterous to believe that she could make it past state lines, let alone make her own way out in the world. Nothing has happened yet, leading Reginald to conclude that Number Seven is almost certainly dead.

Which, of course, is quite the relief, as he now no longer has to concern himself with the possibility of her discovering her powers, nor of the threat she would pose should she lose control of them. He is now one step closer to preventing the apocalypse.

For now, he will continue to look into any strange reports in the surrounding area, perhaps even in the neighboring towns and cities (as he knows that she stole some of his possessions before leaving), for any sign of abnormal young girls. Just in case. But for now, Reginald considers his job done.

Number Seven is no more.

* * *

It's been about a month since they've added Six to their little group, and they've learned much about her in such a short amount of time.

Of course, at the beginning, they experienced a ton of bumps in the road. For starters, Kali wasn't even remotely interested in bringing home a fucking cannibal, especially one they just met while she was tearing open the throat of some stranger. But apparently, The Rumor isn't the only person who knows how to control people, because the next thing Kali knew, they were already leading Six home with the promise of food and a place to sleep.

Kali still doesn't understand Vanya's Bleeding Heart line of thinking. Sure, Six obviously needs a place to stay. She probably escaped from a bad situation and that's probably why she literally fucking eats people. But that doesn't mean it's up to them to do anything about it. Even if it is, where the hell are they going to get the space? The two of them can barely even fit in the apartment they share together, storage closet that it is. How does Vanya expect to fit _another_ girl inside?

Luckily for them, Six is actually quite small, and doesn't seem picky about where she sleeps. Before they can even talk it out, the girl pulls a stray blanket and pillow towards the shitty couch and curls up on it. Vanya tries to protest, but Kali reminds her that waking the temperamental, unstable cannibal probably isn't the best idea.

From then, Six continues to sleep on the couch despite Vanya's protests. It makes sense, seeing as she is, from what they've observed, a creature of habit. All the better for Kali, who isn't interested in giving up her bed.

Having strong habits isn't the only thing they've learned about her. In fact, the first thing they learn, other than her occasional desire to consume human flesh, is that she is mute. From what they can tell, she hasn't been injured in any way that may have caused it, so it's either voluntary, traumatic, or a mix of both. It isn't long before Vanya ~~demands~~ proposes that they all learn sign language to communicate better.

It's actually sort of ridiculous, how long it takes any of them to get the hang of it. Yes, it's another language (in a way), but considering how they've done nothing other than lay around the house since they've brought her in, one would think they'd have all the time in the world. Eventually, though, they all get the hang of it.

Another thing that they learn, about a week into Six's stay, is that Six likes to draw. A lot. They're not sure what the _fuck_ any of it means, but she likes to draw a lot and at all times. Vanya remembers waking up at four A.M. for some water, only to find scribbles and doodles of what honestly looked like hieroglyphs for a satanic ritual all around the room; on papers scattered everywhere, to bare walls, and even on the table. Vanya actually screamed loud enough to wake Kali _and_ Six, who was curled up in the middle of the floor, sleeping like the dead.

Kali almost kicked her out right then and there; they're _renting,_ for fuck's sake, they can't just do whatever they want to the place. But Six was extremely apologetic, even with her face still hidden beneath the hood of her raincoat, and she cleaned it all up herself. It seemed that until then, she didn't even know what 'rent' was. Vanya has no idea where in the world Six must've come from, to not know basic concepts like not drawing on the fucking walls, but considering Vanya herself lived in a home where the only affectionate person was a robot and the only human parent never bothered to name his fucking kids, she knows it's not that unbelievable for Six to not know these things.

Kali took more convincing, but that's probably because she's the one who's renting the apartment in the first place. Vanya just reminded her of how lost Kali herself must've been after escaping the lab, and the older girl (reluctantly) backed down.

One of the biggest things they learn about Six- the most recent thing- is that Six is, from what they've managed to gather, non-binary. It takes all of them a while to fully understand this. Vanya's never questioned her own gender before, and neither has Kali, and it's not like they live in a time or place that very openly talks about those things. As far as Vanya knew, if you have a vagina, you're a girl, and if you have a penis, you're a boy. But that seems like news to Six, who, while not minding being referred to with female pronouns, also doesn't completely feel like a girl. Neutral pronouns fit Six just as well, and sometimes she even prefers it more than female ones.

Vanya doesn't really get it, but if it's what makes Six comfortable, she doesn't mind giving it a try. Especially since it's not a particularly hard thing to do; calling Six by certain pronouns at certain times, that is. She likens it to how Reginald always refused to call her 'Vanya', even though that's what she wanted, what she felt most comfortable with. It wouldn't kill him to say it, but he refused anyway, and Vanya doesn't want to be like Reginald.

Outside of work, they've all stayed inside these past few weeks, just trying to get to know Six better. Also, because they aren't quite sure how Six will fit into their whole 'revenge' scheme. It's not like Vanya brought Six in with the intentions to recruit her or anything. But eventually, the topic does come up, once they've all gotten more comfortable around each other.

"So, here's the thing." Vanya says slowly, and Kali rolls her eyes, already knowing this isn't going to work.

"Here we go." Kali mutters, and Vanya elbows her. Six peers up at them innocently from her spot on the couch. She has the new notebook Kali bought her in her lap, her fingers idly playing with the black crayon.

"Okay. So, like..." Vanya takes a deep breath, wringing her hands together. "Alright. Alright, I'm just going to say it. We- um, well, the thing is-"

"We hunt down and kill people for revenge, and robbing them is a huge boost to our income, and now we're running low on cash again so we want to know if you're okay with us going out and killing soon." Kali says, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation. Vanya squawks incredulously, swatting Kali's bicep.

"Li! You can't just-"

"Yes, I can, and I did, because you were taking too fucking long and someone had to say it." 

"Still! It's supposed to be a secret! This is a big deal! We were supposed to make sure that she'd promise to keep it a _secret!"_

Kali scoffs. "V, she eats people. I don't think she's going to snitch any time soon." Vanya huffs, still unhappy with the indelicate approach. They both turn to Six, wanting to gauge her reaction. She stares at them for a minute, before finally lifting her hands and signing.

 _'Revenge?'_ She asks.

Vanya nods. "We go after people who have hurt us, but are out there being happy anyways. We don't want them to get away with what they did. So we track them down and give them a taste of their own medicine. Right now we've just been going after Kali's grudges, but I'll go after mine one day, too."

_'They were... bad?'_

"Absolute shit."

_'...You're going out again?'_

"Yeah, we're gonna have to sooner or later. We're running low on money, and rent's due soon."

 _'Will I go?'_ Kali and Vanya share a glance, silently discussing.

"What do you want to do, Six?" Vanya asks. "We only told you so you wouldn't be kept in the dark. We're not going to make you do anything." Six mulls it over for a moment.

_'I will help.'_

And that was that.

They don't bother getting Six a disguise, since she never takes off her raincoat, and the hood obscures her face well enough, but they buy some shoes and clothes that she can wear under it, since she's smaller than the both of them. In fact, they would probably guess that she's younger than them, if not for her powers, and how clearly malnourished she still is. Underfed kids have a stunted growth, meaning there's really no telling how old she actually is.

The shopping is a definite struggle, though, since Six doesn't seem used to the daylight, nor all the people. Vanya lent her some clothes for today's expedition, since she's closer to her in size than Kali, but it's obvious how ill-fitting they are, even beneath the coat. Six practically cowers behind them, not quite managing to cling to them but still using them as shields to the outside world.

She keeps her head down, but her breathing is shallow and uneven, so Kali tries to cut the trip as short as possible by only making Six try on clothes until they find just one thing that fits, then just picking up whatever is on the rack that's the same size. They all hurry home, and Six dives under the covers on the couch, and doesn't come back out until lunch.

While none of them actually know what the terms 'PTSD', 'touch aversion', or 'touch-starved' mean, they understand that they've all gone through some things, and they all have scars, and Six's just happen to be extremely visible in her behavior. That is when the girls learn yet another thing about Six. And though neither Vanya nor Kali intend to force Six to explain what happened to her, they've already started to piece together an image in their minds.

"She's probably been isolated for a long, long time," Vanya muses in bed, once Six is fast asleep. "Somewhere dark, I think. She's so sensitive to light, and she's scared of literally everything. That's probably why she didn't even know how to write." Which they discovered before they decided to try sign language. Kali had asked Six to just write what they wanted to say once, and Six just tilted their head and stared at her.

"And why she doesn't speak." Kali adds, eyes already closing. "There was a girl, once, back at the lab. I don't really remember her, but I know that she was real little, and blonde. She barely ever said a word, no matter who talked to her. So, she's probably been cooped up for a while, just like that. Maybe that's why she draws all the time. Because she literally can't put her thoughts into words." A pause. "Plus, she eats people. Maybe because she didn't get enough food, wherever she was from. Or maybe that's why they locked her up in the first place."

Vanya huffs. "Well, they should've tried to help her, then. I mean, it's obviously not the only thing she eats. She likes takeout well enough." She sasses back, and Kali doesn't counter it, because honestly, Vanya's right. If Six is willing to eat and even enjoys normal food, chances are that she didn't start out a cannibal.

Kali sighs, turning onto her side. "Yeah, well, at the end of the day, nothing we _assume_ really matters. We won't know for sure until she tells us. _If_ she tells us."

Vanya hums. "I hope she trusts us enough to say it, one day. I just- I can't get it out of my head, you know? Like, my Dad sucks, but this? This is completely different. She won't even let us see her face. I've never even made eye contact with her before."

Kali swats Vanya lazily. "Don't start comparing traumas. Now, sleep. We've got a murder to plan tomorrow."

* * *

The mission goes quite successfully, to their surprise. The girls were worried about how Six would do, even after the duo assured the demigirl several times that they didn't have to do anything if they didn't want to, and Six insisting that they wanted to help, despite not having any personal grudges of their own to add to the team.

 _'They are all_ _gone.'_ They signed, the night before. _'I already won.'_ And that was that.

Six still keeps mum about their past, but on the bright side, they don't seem to have any qualms about traipsing through the night with their new friends. And it seems that they were being serious when they told the girls that their enemies were 'gone', because they don't bat an eye when killing the targets.

Now that there's three people on the team, they've stepped up their game, hitting two targets instead of just one that night. A married couple. Match made in fucking heaven, apparently. It feels amazing to get back into the game, getting revenge on those who deserve it. Kali's never felt better in her entire life. To celebrate their return, they spend some of the cash by ordering pizzas, even getting extra toppings and sauce. They all gorge themselves on pizza and soda, until they're sprawled out on the living room floor, shocked silent from their food coma.

Six is starting to doze off, head resting on their arm, when they feel a touch lighter than a feather on their pinky finger. They tense, and so does the touch, until they look up and see Vanya, still splayed idly on the floor. Vanya's face remains nonchalant, but Six can almost feel the nerves emanating from her.

The demigirl watches her for a moment, until it looks like Vanya will pull her finger back, before they hook their pinky finger around hers, not quite squeezing so much as just holding it there. Vanya glances over at Six, but the demigirl's eyes have already closed, and they're soon returning to their nap.

Vanya smiles, and closes her eyes, too.

"We should move out soon." Kali murmurs after a while. Vanya turns her head.

"Hm?"

"We should move out soon. Find another place to stay, and all that. We're running out of targets. And space."

"Where are we gonna go?" Vanya asks sleepily. Kali shrugs limply.

"Dunno. Somewhere. Far. Somewh'r th' cops won' get us." Kali's slurring her words now, steadily giving in to the lovely embrace of sleep.

"S'nds nice..." And just like that, both girls are out like a light.

* * *

Six opens their eyes to the dull cadence of the marching.

They fight the urge to run, knowing that it won't do them any good. The shadows writhe here, shrieking, gnashing rows of fangs perfect for tearing flesh. To move too soon would be to invite death.

The rhythmic footsteps are above them, distant but loud enough to still hear, blending with the moaning and the groaning of the world. Six reaches into their pocket, pulling out their flicker of Hope. It is warm, the only warm thing here. They take a breath, and wait til everything rocks just-so. At the right moment, they charge through the dark, racing for the exit, until the _thump thump thump_ -ing of the march and the shrieking shadows are far behind them, further into the dark, faster than the wind can whisper.

Everything melts, and then they are in the nursery, darting between the cradles, hiding behind and underneath until the hands stop searching and the light is gone and the door is shut. They squeeze between metal bars and escape the room, diving right into the darkness again, where it is safe, where shadows don't writhe and hands don't search and light doesn't dare shine.

Everything melts again, and they are clutching, clawing at their stomach, kneeling on the ground and trembling. Their vision swims, and It is howling in their ears, begging, demanding, wailing for satisfaction, for fulfillment. Six smells fresh blood and lunges. When their mind clears, there is blood everywhere, and Six is standing right in the middle of it, surrounded by the proof of their own sins.

They feel the scream building in their throat, but nothing comes. It stays there, trapped, deafening their mind, drowning out their thoughts, numbing everything. They want to end it all here, but they can't, not with the Eyes. The Eyes are watching here. It is not safe. There is no safe. They can do nothing more than plunge further into the dark.

That is all that there ever is, here. Darkness, screaming, and Eyes. Eyes everywhere, always watching, always knowing. They know more than hands, they see more than light, peering at every Thing that dares to breathe. There is no safe where They exist.

Six knows this. They all do. They have seen what will happen, the futility of resistance. Despair carves them up and leaves them hollow before the hands ever do. But deep, deep in that hollow, wrapped in the dark and the empty and the despair, there is not a fire, but a storm, building and spreading and overtaking everything, creeping frost slowly encasing it all in ice. It numbs her, overcoming even the hollowness, and the overwhelming, unbridled desire to end it, to destroy the game She plays consumes Six's mind. Everything melts.

It melts, and Six is brought back as the mirror shatters, and She is on the floor, and perhaps She would beg for mercy is She thought Six would give it; but they won't, and then Six is upon Her, unleashing It as their mind spins. When it's over, Six is whole, Six is _more,_ and nothing can stop them as they leave, right through the feast and ascending. True light beckons them from above, promising freedom, release, and they walk right into it.

Six won.

* * *

"Where do you think we should move?" Vanya asks at breakfast the next morning. Kali hums.

"I'm not sure yet." The older girl admits. "I just think it'd be good if we could move somewhere closer to the other targets. We've already gotten rid of everyone in the surrounding area. The others are too far away to take a train or bus anymore. It's too expensive, and it's not like we have a car." She turns to Six.

"What do you think?"

 _'Car?'_ Six signs.

Kali quirks a brow. "Car? What about a car?"

_'What is a car?'_

"Oh." Kali looks at Vanya, not for the first time forgetting that Six really doesn't know anything about anything. "Uh, it's a mode of transportation. You've seen them before, remember? When we went shopping? They're like mini buses, and people buy and drive their own. It's usually when they don't have one that they use the bus." Six thinks it over.

_'We can live in the car. To keep moving.'_

"I guess." Kali says slowly. "But they're really expensive, and none of us know how to drive."

"Plus, most cars don't come with fridges or bathrooms and stuff." Vanya chimes. "Even if we get an RV, they don't come with most appliances. A van with all of that stuff would be even more expensive."

Kali nods. "But that does make sense. Maybe... maybe we can do something similar? I don't know what, but I guess we could do an indefinite road trip, just taking pit-stops at motels and stuff when we need it. I just don't know if we could afford all that gas and, again, the car."

"We could do the same thing, but with trains?" Vanya suggests, but even as she isn't convinced. Trains aren't the worst, but she doesn't want to spend most of her days being aggressively jerked around on a loud, bumpy train.

"We'll keep thinking about it." Kali decides. They quickly change the topic, moving on to their plans for the day.

* * *

Kali goes out to get groceries, while Vanya practices her violin again and Six draws. These days, the violin- and music in general- has become a sort of fine tuner for Vanya's powers. Rather than train them by just focusing really hard and hoping for the best, Vanya can use her violin as a medium to manipulate the energy around her. She likes to compare it to Harry Potter and his wand; it takes his uncontrollable magic and focuses it, taking what would be accidental outbursts and concentrating it into a force with a direct purpose.

Vanya eventually calls it a day, not wanting to overexert herself too much. As she puts away her instrument, she watches as Six continues drawing in her notebook. "Hey, want to practice writing again?" She asks. Six shrugs, and Vanya takes it as permission to sit beside her and lean in to see the notebook.

"Do you remember how you're supposed to write a lowercase 'B'?" Six tries writing one. It turns out a bit shaky, and is actually a lowercase D. "Almost. You confused it with the lowercase D. Try it the other way around." Six complies, and rewrites it. "Perfect! Now, how about an uppercase 'H'?"

Vanya continues to teach Six about the alphabet until she can get most of it down, before deciding that she'd probably do better with she could see how they're used. Vanya gives her simple words, no bigger than three or four letters, and makes her sign it, then write it herself.

Six makes steady progress, and the girls keep practicing even well after Kali returns. They keep at it until Six gets bored and decides to draw again instead.

"I think we should do it." Kali says over the dinner table. "I think we should save up and buy a car. Even if it's only for a little bit, I think it'd be a good idea to go from place to place and get our targets, instead of moving to a whole new house for who knows how long. We'll definitely have to save up, and God knows how long _that'll_ take, but at least it'd be worth it in the long run."

Vanya hums. "Sure. As long as we're not walking, I don't really care what we do. What about you, Six?" Six shrugs. As high-maintenance as she can be sometimes, Six is actually really easy to please.

 _'Will we hunt more?'_ Six signs. _'More bad people?'_

"We'll probably have to, to make end's meet. Can't really get a stable job if we're moving everywhere. I don't really know how the hell we're going to find criminals that we _know_ are criminals, but we'll just have to figure it out. It's not like we've got many other ways to make real money." Kali sighs, and takes another sip of her drink. Vanya shifts uncomfortably in her seat.

"Then, I guess this means we get to go window-shopping for vans?" The girl says, trying to brighten the mood.

Kali groans. "Even if I said no, I know I can't stop you."

Vanya cheers loudly at her friend's despair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made Six a demigirl because Tarsier Studios, the people who made Little Nightmares, often referred to her by female pronouns, but also stated that Six's gender wasn't actually confirmed, in, like, the same sentence. Which is why I interpreted it my own way by making Six non-binary; specifically, a demigirl! Of course, since I'm not a demigirl myself, I can't fully understand what it's like to be one, so please let me know if I put misinformation or represent it incorrectly, and I will change it ASAP! I just really like the idea of an NB Six, especially as a way to even the boy-girl ratio of the team, because technically she's neither :) Anyways, let me know what you think! I hope you liked it!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally get 10% of their shit together. Before, of course, getting into trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly kind of hate this chapter, but it's better than nothing, and it needs to be done in order to get to the other things. What other things, I've honestly forgotten for the most part, but other things nonetheless. Sorry if this isn't the update you wanted, but hopefully this'll get me back into the groove of things. I took so long that probably no one cares about this anymore, especially since it's literally the night before season 2 drops that I'm finally writing the rest of this, and I'll probably have a million fic ideas by tomorrow anyway.

When Six meets Vanya and Kali, it is in the middle of the night, in a dingy little alleyway, and she's losing control.

She'd been starving for a while, and she knew it wouldn't be long before she lost control. Still, food was hard to come by, and it isn't long before she starts shuddering from the hunger.

She really didn't want to eat the man. At least, not at first, but she was running out of time and he wasn't being very nice anyway, so she figures it's either him, her, or the two girls approaching from the other end of the alleyway, and she isn't going to choose either of the last two. So she lunges at him, hands outstretched, and they tumble to the ground. Her teeth are tearing at his flesh in seconds, going immediately for the jugular in the hopes of keeping his suffering to a minimum. Her vision darkens, the Hunger screeching and howling in her ears as the shadows swirl around her, until she's had her fill and everything stops as quickly as it started.

She expects the two girls to run, scared out of their wits by the monstrosity in fluorescent yellow, and yet somehow she finds herself on the couch in their apartment by the end of the night.

She wonders, initially, if this is some type of trap after all. They have no reason to be kind, or concerned, or even mildly welcoming to the stranger that murdered a man in front of them, and the fact that they are, makes Six believe that they have something in store for her. Are they like the Lady? Do they desire something? Or are they like Six? Do they desire her power? Have they somehow learned how she gained these new abilities, and now desire the same?

And yet, as the time goes on, they have proven time and time again that they mean her no harm. In fact, they seem attached to her. At least, the small one, Vanya, does.

It is strange, Six thinks. The girls have names, much different from the ones Six herself has ever heard. They're so... special, and yet... they mean nothing. Just noises, custom to each person, describing nothing about them. The Lady, the Janitor, the Butler, the Pretender... all were enough to communicate exactly what they were. Six herself has a clear name; she is the sixth. Of what, she does not recall, but that is likely no longer relevant. Once, she was the sixth of something. But what is a Vanya, or a Kali? Perhaps in another tongue, they serve some form of purpose or meaning. But all Six hears is sounds without sense, and she doesn't understand the purpose of any of it.

Still, something about it seemed... appealing, for lack of better word. It was a direct and complete contradiction, much like nearly everything Six has discovered in this strange, vast world. Six has always had an intense aversion to touch for as long as she can remember, but the contrasting craving for touch is something entirely new, borne only after her time with Vanya and Kali, and the realization that touch doesn't always result in pain. There can be good touches too, soft ones, warm ones, and she doesn't know how to handle the burning desire for it, especially not when her skin still crawls when she accidentally bumps into someone.

It's confusing. She isn't sure what she's supposed to do with these new thoughts. It's almost as confusing as the outside, with how bright and loud and _too much_ it was. So many people, so many sounds and movements and lights, as if they purposefully intend to drive Six insane. It's no wonder that she accepts the offer to join the girls in their night adventures. It's still a little too bright, since no one here ever seems asleep, and there's still too many sounds and movements and people but it's a hell of a lot better than the day.

Usually, Six would shy away from unnecessary violence or ventures, as none of the other incidences were ever anything other than a life or death situation. But she supposes that, in the grand scheme of things, she doesn't have any real qualms about murder anyway, at least in the way that probably matters to most people.

Besides, these people hurt Vanya and Kali on purpose. The two girls that saw her consume human flesh and still willingly took her in. She doesn't care what these people's reasons are, she'll gladly tear them limb from limb if that would bring these girls some peace. And if deep down, the darkest, most honest corner of her mind whispers to her the truth- that this is a desperate attempt to solidify her new place with them, that as soon as they find out about all that she is capable of, in its entirety, they will abandon her- well, Six has never been the most honest of people, anyway.

* * *

It's been over a year since they saw Vanya.

Most of the time, they have to admit, they don't think about it. They never really spent much time with her in the first place, sometimes not even seeing her at all in a day, so her absence didn't leave a massive whole or strangeness like Five's did. It was more like the death of a distant relative, one you only really saw on the holidays. Generally, it doesn't really change your everyday life, but every now and then, a stray thought or topic of conversation or random occurrence in their day would bring her name back up, and suddenly they're left feeling tense and awkward. It gets worse every time, remembering not only that she is no longer around, but also that they've generally forgotten about her since.

Which, of course, encourages them to only avoid the topic even more, leaving the stretches in between her remembrance even longer, and her name being brought up even less. In other words, they handle it in true Hargreeves fashion; if they can't fight it, they bury it down and ignore it as if that means it doesn't exist.

They have their first birthday without her, and that's perhaps the part where they realize just how little they actually paid attention to her, because when they go about their usual birthday routines, they see just how little her absence really did to change things; as in, it changed nothing at all. While they were off hanging out with each other and playing, where was she? What did she do, on this day? With Five gone, did she just shut herself up in her room, alone, like every other day?

It also became clear how little of a shit their father gave about her when, unlike Five, Vanya went without a portrait. Of course, it isn't like they wanted her to have one; the belief that she is dead is an unwelcome one, and it isn't as if they even wanted Five's portrait in the first place. But when Luther tentatively asks what Reginald intends to do, now that it's been a year since Vanya's run off, Reginald looks at him dead in the eye and says, "I haven't the slightest what you mean, Number One. Do what? She made the foolish decision to wander off, entirely on her own volition. Do you expect me to look for her?"

And even Luther has a hard time swallowing that one, though he does anyway, because that's all he ever seems to know how to do at this point. Diego's gotten huffy again, believing that Vanya has nothing to be angry about (or, more accurately, that neglect somehow isn't considered a valid trauma simply because the hurt isn't physical), and Allison generally pretends that nothing ever happened; as if she never had a sister in the first place, as if not talking about it made it okay (again, in true Hargreeves fashion). Klaus is usually too high to even remember his own name, or any of his other siblings, anyway, let alone who Vanya is, and Ben- well.

Ben just misses her.

* * *

It takes about a week before they finally remember that theft exists.

To be fair, they've only considered murder via revenge, so it isn't as if they considered doing things they technically don't need to do. But according to Six, they kind of _do_ need to steal, because they're way too fucking poor to get anything done otherwise. Specifically, they'd need to steal a car.

Kali is somewhat embarrassed that it took her this long to remember that she can just hijack a car, seeing as she is the one with the most experience out of the three girls. And yet, it was Six who simply cocked her head and signed, _'steal?'_

Kali shared a long, hard look with Vanya, both deciding that they were probably idiots, before Kali turned to Six and said, "You know what? Fuck it. Yeah, let's steal a fucking car."

So they packed their shit, threw on some hoods to cover their faces, and went out on the prowl to steal some poor bastard's car.

It isn't long til they find an old, beat-up red van with paint so chipped and faded it might as well have not been painted at all. It's a six-seater, which is great since that means they have extra leg room. Plus, more space for their luggage though it doesn't really amount to that much. Just a couple of trash bags filled with clothes and shoes and supplies, though Vanya's violin case definitely needed the space. She sets it in the back and puts a seat belt around it like it's a person, just in case the ride is a little too bumpy.

Kali slides into the driver's seat, only half-aware of what she's doing, and Vanya gets into the passenger's side, driving manual and map in hand. They had to throw out the GPS, just in case someone tries to track it, which means they're doing this the old-fashioned way. Kali flips through the manual again as Six settles comfortably in the second row, tucking her legs into her chest and staring out the window in anticipation.

"Alright, I think I got this," Kali says, and Vanya smiles encouragingly.

"I believe in you!" She cheers, and Kali huffs. Vanya would probably believe in Santa Claus if Kali told her to. Kali manages to pull out of the parking lot and right onto the main road without much issue. After yet another cheer, Vanya looks at the map. "Alright, well, in order to get to Wyoming, we'll need to keep to the main road and take a left at the end here. Then stick to the highway."

"Give me a second," Kali says, somewhat distractedly. "One direction at a time." Vanya reiterates, but much slower this time, and in the back, Six continues to stare out the windows, wondering what this 'Wyoming' will be like.

* * *

It's dark out despite the city lights of LA.

Like all big cities, the lights in the cityscape are essentially a permanent fixture in the environment. The noise is just as constant as the lights, and yet, no matter how long he's lived here, he doesn't think he'll ever get used to it.

He can hear the arguing upstairs, and huffs out a sigh, wondering why they even bother to pretend when they're so bad at it. But it's not like he gives much of a shit, anyway, as long as they leave him alone.

The noise is getting to be too much for him, since it seems neither of them know how to keep their fucking window closed while they scream at each other. To be fair, they're usually unbelievably passive-aggressive and like to ignore each other, but all the same, he leaves the balcony and closes the doors behind him. Luckily, the noise dulls a bit, but still not enough. So he slips on headphones and pulls out the box from beneath his bed, flipping through the files kept hidden inside of it.

This would probably be a hell of a lot easier if he could get them to work with him. But it's not surprising that She wouldn't want to, since She fucking hates his guts just for breathing, and He likes to pretend they're complete strangers.

He pulls out a photo and stares down at it, heart twisting. It's been almost seven full years, and each day hurts more than the last.

But now she isn't the only one he's doing this for, as he stares at the girl smiling beside her. Who knew that four years could fly by, while also dragging along so slowly? A day feels like a decade, and as he sees their faces eternally smiling in the photograph, he feels both young and ancient.

She would've been seventeen today.

He puts the photo back and pulls out the other documents, forcing the emotions down. He's got a lot of work to do, and not enough time to do it. He could cry over them again tonight in bed, but for now, he needs to keep searching.

* * *

They're almost in Iowa before they run into trouble.

"How long until we're finally in Wyoming?" Vanya whines, leaning back in her seat. Her back is starting to ache, and she feels like it won't be long before she's consumed by the van. She's completely restless now, never having been shoved in a car for this long before. Behind her, Six is clearly on-edge, being far too accustomed to being stuck in a small, enclosed space with no way out, and being absolutely sick of it as well. If she didn't know that she might die from catapulting herself out the car window, she would have probably tried it by now.

"Vanya, if you ask me that one more fucking time, I'm gonna pull the fuck over and make you drive." Kali warns. Vanya pouts and slumps in her seat.

"Well, then can we take a break soon? So you can sleep and I can stretch my legs? I need to pee, too." She turns around to peek at Six. "Do you need to pee, Six?" The girl in question shakes her head after a beat, but continues rocking herself back and forth. Vanya frowns. "Yeah, we should pull over soon." She stares at the road, before finding another sign. "It says there's a stop in, like, four miles. We should rest there for a second, at least."

When they get there, Vanya immediately dashes for the public restroom, while Kali goes to get some gas. Six doesn't know what to do at first, and just resolves to wait by the car until they both come back. It doesn't take long before she starts to feel the Hunger in her trying to claw itself to the surface. She immediately curls up on the floor, shuddering. If she is lucky, Kali or Vanya will come by with food soon, so that she won't end up doing something she might regret.

Almost as if by fate, a police car rolls up to get some gas as well. As he steps out of his car, the officer glances around subconsciously, and immediately catches the sight of the little figure in the bright yellow raincoat. Six crouches there awkwardly, simply glad to be out of the moving tin box for the first time instead of cooped up in the dark again for hours on end.

Normally, most people wouldn't think twice about her, aside from how odd it is that someone would be wearing a raincoat during a dry spell, or wondering if she might be homeless. But that, unfortunately, is not how this scene unfolds. Rather, the officer becomes concerned with Six, who is starting to once again feel the emergence of Hunger deep inside. The officer contemplates approaching her, until he sees that she's trembling with increasing intensity.

"Are you alright there, kiddo?" He asks cautiously. His steps are slow but sure, not wanting to scare her off, but still being concerned. Six twitches and scoots back a little, but otherwise doesn't respond. The lights are starting to flicker around the station, and Six's breath becomes ragged. Just as she snaps and lunges at him, Vanya steps out of the store.

"Six, no!" She shrieks, and her panic shatters one of the street lamps. She runs over to them as the officer pulls his gun out, having dodged the girl just in time. He isn't really sure why that ended up being his first instinct, as he's never been one to draw on a child, but something about this kid was different. They didn't feel like a kid at all. There was just something about them that was... unnatural. Dark. He'd say demonic, but he wasn't a religious man, and he was wholly uninterested in opening up _that_ can of worms.

"Don't move!" He yells, and Vanya freezes. The officer's aim constantly shifts between her and Six, who is slowly getting back up. Vanya glances at the smaller girl, then tries to inch forward just a bit.

"Sir, please, I-" His gun is trained on Vanya's face, and she chokes on her words, lifting her hands up in the universal sign of surrender.

"I said, don't move!" He yells, eyes blown wide. The fear is too much for Vanya, and suddenly all of the lights around the station have shattered, plunging them into darkness.

The officer tries to pick out the silhouettes and aim at them, despite being barely able to see and in the midst of losing his mind, because the lights are out and he's pretty sure the timing was a little _too_ good to be coincidental. His hands are shaking, and he can barely hear the sounds of life around him through the persistent pounding of his heart. He hasn't been this nervous since his rookie years, and he'd probably berate himself for his behavior in his head if he wasn't so damn scared.

Vanya snatches Six up, pulling the yellow-clad back to her chest and making sure to keep her hands away from the smaller girl's mouth. She's got her from behind, so she isn't sure if the girl is still losing it or not, but she isn't interested in finding out. Vanya drags Six back towards the silhouette of the car to the best of her abilities, but Six is surprisingly strong for someone so short and thin. The violent thrashing threatens to tear Six from Vanya's hold, and the girl can already feel the bruises forming from stray bony elbows.

The sudden loss of light draws Kali out. "Vanya? Six?" She calls. She's visible under the light of the store, but she can't see them very well.

"Li, help! We need to go, now!" Vanya calls, only to curse, since it gives away their position to the cop. She hears him move, and she yelps, dragging Six away, and Kali runs over to the car, flinging the door open and pulling it out of park. Six manages to elbow Vanya in the stomach, and the taller girl falls to the ground, the wind knocked out of her. Before she can do anything to stop it, Six flings herself at the officer, who panics and pulls the trigger. It misses, hitting a nearby car, setting off its alarm. The man screams, but it's too late. Six is devouring his flesh, the darkness sparing potential onlookers from the horror. They are instead left with their imagination as the sound of sickening tearing and squelching and a hard, loud _crunch_ or two of bones snapping under teeth reverberates throughout the station.

Kali drags Vanya to the car and all but shoves her in, before racing back to Six. She isn't stupid enough to touch the smaller, not when they're like _this,_ but she couldn't very well leave them behind, could she? "Six, we have to go, _now!"_ Kali yells in her most authoritative voice, but even she can hear the tremors of fear in it. Six jerks, and after one last gulp of flesh, she races inside and curls up in one of the back seats. Kali jumps behind the wheel and takes off, heart skipping about fifty beats each.

* * *

"We have to get rid of her."

"But, Li-"

"Vanya, she fucking ate a cop!" Kali shrieks. They've taken another pit stop a full state away. Kali was so terrified that she'd driven for almost a full 24 hours straight, unable to sleep or even calm down. "She _ate_ a motherfucking _cop_ in the middle of a fucking _gas station!_ What the flying fuck are we going to do if they have cameras, or a witness, or _something_ that could tie it back to us? Fuck, what if she fucking eats one of _us_ the next time she gets fucking hungry? What then? Do you even _think_ about these things, Vanya?" The older girl is heaving, not even caring about whoever could hear her. Everything would be over soon, anyway, seeing as there's no fucking way they had enough luck to get away with killing a motherfucking cop.

"She didn't do it on purpose-"

"Exactly! She can't even control herself! She could fucking murder us in the middle of the night, because of you and your fucking bleeding heart!"

"We can't just get rid of her! We don't even know what made her this way, she's just finally started to trust us-"

"Well that's not our problem, is it? We're not fucking therapists, or miracle-workers, Vanya! If anything, we've got the shittiest luck ever with how our lives have been until now, and we could live for a million years and never witness a miracle of our own."

Vanya's got her head in her hands, and she's sitting on the curb, clearly trying not to cry. The fight threatens to drain out of Kali, but she forbids herself from giving in. "I can't just leave her like this, Kali."

"Well, I refuse to keep her around." Kali crosses her arms over her chest. "I still don't know why you just _have_ to help her. Really, she's fucking eating people, V. I know we're not stellar, upstanding citizens or whatever, but that's a whole other ball game."

"She's just like me." Vanya murmurs. Kali's eyebrows shoot up.

"Where the fuck did you get that? Unless you've been secretly eating people this whole time, I highly doubt there are any similarities to be found outside of that bizarre-ass brain of yours."

"She is," Vanya insists. "You said she couldn't control herself. Her weird urges are clearly connected to her powers, going by the shadows and the flickering lights. She's got dangerous powers that are way out of control and she doesn't know how to deal with them. I can't control my powers either."

"Yeah, and you also haven't eaten anybody."

"But I've killed them." Vanya resolutely meets Kali's gaze. "I looked it up a few weeks later. That night, on my birthday, I killed them, those guys that harassed me. They noticed me and I felt cornered and I lashed out and killed them. It was an accident, too, just like Six, and they're dead now."

"Vanya, that's not the same! You didn't eat them, and even if you did, they deserved it, going after you like that." Kali sits beside the younger girl and grabs her hands.

Vanya shakes her head. "They deserved prison time, not getting smeared across the asphalt."

"It's not the same." Kali repeats.

"Sure, it's not the same. But it's close enough, isn't it? Could you honestly tell me that if I almost hurt you or someone else- or if I actually _do_ hurt you or someone else- on accident, you would just leave me, because I'm too dangerous? Too much of a threat? Because I am, even if it doesn't end with someone getting eaten. Remember when I caused that thunderstorm, because the lights went out in our apartment and I got scared?" Vanya tightens her grip on Kali.

"Of course not," Kali says, almost without thinking. Vanya is the closest she's ever had to a sister. She'd be hard-pressed to find something she'd be willing to give her up for.

"So why is it different for Six? Because she's strange? I mean, really, we're going around the country killing people as part of a revenge quest. This is unbelievably hypocritical."

"We go after people who deserve it. _It's not the same."_ At this point, Kali is beginning to feel a bit like a broken record. Vanya sighs.

"Nothing is, Kali. But that doesn't mean we can't understand. Our backgrounds are almost completely different, but we understand each other better than anybody." The smaller girl is staring at her with her big, brown eyes, and Kali can feel herself beginning to crumble. This is so, unbelievably, laughably, insanely stupid and ridiculous and probably some level of suicidal, but Kali is already caving and she knows it.

"God, I fucking hate this. Why do I always give in to you?" Kali huffs. Vanya gives her a tentative smile.

"Because I'm your best friend and you love me," she says cheekily. Kali snorts.

"What a little brat. I swear, I fucking spoil you too much. Where did that meek little thing go?" She bitches playfully.

"Probably died the night we killed that first guy." Vanya says flatly, and a short, sharp laugh escapes from Kali, who slings an arm around the other girl's shoulders.

"Yeah, probably."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, kinda didn't like it, but I realized they honestly don't need to buy shit since they're literally fuckin' murderers. They won't go COMPLETE criminal, y'know, since they're really only committing murder out of revenge and otherwise wouldn't commit any crimes at all (well, Vanya usually wouldn't), so it's not too much of a surprise that it didn't cross their minds immediately. Ugh, I think I didn't think the pacing through well enough, either, but again, at least they've finally hit the road!  
> Anyway, let me know what you guys think. Any predictions for this story? Anything you do or don't want to see? Can't guarantee I'll do what you want, but if you have an idea I like better than my own I'll probably use it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, college has been a BITCH. I'm just glad I don't have to go onto campus every day lmao. But yeah that's where I've been and I swear to god it feels simultaneously like FOREVER since I've written any fics and like I just uploaded yesterday or something.  
> CONGRATS TO ELLIOT PAGE I STAN I LOVE I'M SO GLAD HE FELT READY TO COME OUT AND LIVE HIS BEST LIFE!!!!!! That being said, I am decidedly going to keep referring to Vanya (the fictional character) as she/her because I just checked online and apparently "a source" for Variety said there are no plans to make Vanya a boy/NB person, so unless I learn otherwise I will keep her as a girl. (That being said, if Vanya does come out as trans in s3 that would still take place years after this Vanya would, since in this fic she's still a teen.)

They finally make it to Wyoming, and Kali couldn't have been happier. Well, actually, that was a lie. She could certainly be happier, if she was actually happy. But that was for a therapist one day in the far, far future.

Still, they spend their days driving around and doing odd jobs for cash, along with the occasional murder. At some point they'll have to switch cars, knowing that it's possible that it will get them in trouble one day. Otherwise, they just keep their car parked at the top of a secluded hill and lay around. Six continues to practice reading and writing, Vanya plays her violin, and Kali counts their funds and make more plans.

Whenever she can, Vanya goes to nearby malls and other busy areas to play random songs for money. Most of it has been learned by ear now, since she hasn't been able to buy or find new music sheets, which has significantly helped her improve her playing. It's obviously not the most lucrative of jobs, especially not in a place as sparse as Wyoming, but it's the best she can do, and she gives it all she has. Frankly put, Vanya's emotions have been all over the place these past few months, and Kali has been secretly hoping this would give her just a bit of the stability she needs to sort things out.

Eventually, Kali manages to get herself a job. It's a shitty one, with bad hours and worse pay, but it's still way better than anything they'd ever expected, especially with Kali's age and lack of... well, anything. Social Security number, certifications- not even an address. (It also doesn't help that out of the few people that live in Wyoming, Kali is probably the first Indian girl any of them have ever seen in this city, causing them to treat her with suspicion.) They keep all their money in what used to be a fried chicken bucket, stashed under the passenger's side seat. "You know, we should go after her soon," Vanya says one night, after they've all returned to the car. Kali hums.

"You think? There aren't a lot of people around, so they'd definitely talk if someone died. And I don't know if you've noticed, but I stick out like a sore thumb. What if they immediately suspect me?" Vanya frowns, seeing Kali's point.

"What if... what if we get seen on purpose?"

Kali looks at her skeptically. "What? I dunno if you noticed, but _not getting caught_ is kind of the point." Vanya rolled her eyes.

"Getting caught and getting seen isn't the same. I meant we could have disguises to look like other people, and then go out of our way to be seen, and then stick around town while they investigate to seem less suspicious and throw them off."

Kali blinks. "That's... that's actually not a bad idea." Vanya grins.

"See? I'm full of surprises."

* * *

It didn't take them long to enact their plan.

When police were called to the brutal scene the next morning, all the witnesses claimed they saw three fully grown men fleeing from the scene, though details in the descriptions were hazy from there. It exhausted Kali to put up such a disguise on all of them while running, but it worked. The police were looking for transients with criminal records, and barely gave the trio of teenage homeless girls a second glance. Besides, of course, asking if they knew the men involved.

"No, sir," Vanya says, eyes innocently wide and frame hunched, looking every inch the scared, pure little middle-class girl they probably suspect her to be. "I haven't seen anything. I'm- well, I'm not very good with strangers." Her eyes get bigger, almost filling up with tears, and the officer relents.

"Alright. Just, stay safe, then." He gives her a pointed look. "You should probably call your parents, you know. I'm sure they're worried sick." She nods dutifully, and he leaves, believing his job to be done.

"I'm so glad I took you with me," Kali says, grinning from where she hid between the car seats. Vanya rolls her eyes.

"Oh, right, because fooling cops is the only thing I'm good for." She says dryly. Kali shrugs.

"Yeah, maybe," the older girl says, then scowls when Vanya punches her shoulder.

* * *

"It just doesn't make sense." Officer Bowing repeats, shaking his head.

Forester rolls her eyes. "For the last time, that's the only possible explanation."

"It _can't_ be." Bowing insists. Forester groans.

"Then what better answer do you have? This is a small town and everyone knows everyone. Witnesses all say that the culprits looked nothing like anyone who lives here. They're unlikely to _all_ lie, considering most of us wouldn't want a murderer out on the streets, family friend or not. So, clearly people from out of town, but not people who have stuck around, since we can't find anyone who fits their descriptions. So, that would mean travelers, transients, homeless, whatever you want to call them, coming in for the night, maybe looking to score, then dipping out before the heat can get them."

Still, Bowing shakes his head, and Forester huffs. "Emily, I'm telling you, it can't be it. If they were really some random vagrants, why would they roll in to such a tiny town just to kill some lady and leave?"

"I don't know. Money? She _was_ pretty loaded," Forester suggests.

"But how would they know to come here, how would they know she was rich? We didn't even find any signs of a real robbery- we catalogued everything and only a few things were missing, like a couple accessories. She had all sorts of jewelry and paintings and vases just out in the open, and they're all still there. And why'd they have to kill her, anyway? She was in her nightgown. Forensics says she was dragged out of bed and killed somewhere else. They could've just done the deed and left without anyone knowing. Why'd they have to go out of their way to shoot her?"

"I don't know! Maybe they didn't want to take chances! Maybe they're serial killers!"

"If that's really it, then they wouldn't shoot her, they'd strangle or stab her in her bed. And if they're serial killers, what's their signature? Why are they so bad at this?"

Forester throws her hands up in exasperation. "Dammit, Jim! What is this, CSI? You're a fucking beat cop in a town smaller than a toenail, not an FBI agent. You don't know anything about half the shit you're talking about!"

"Fine," Bowing snaps, "you'll see I'm right one day." He storms off, leaving Forester to roll her eyes and get back to work.

* * *

Detective Callaghan sighs, rubbing his temples. It's been a long, awful day, and it doesn't help that, ever since his hunch that their serial killing culprits are women, the duo had gone radio silent. He doesn't know what to think. Was it just bad luck, or did they know somehow? He shakes his head. Going down that rabbit hole is a turn he doesn't have time to make. He pushes the papers away, taking a fortifying gulp of coffee. He needs a break, like, ten years ago.

"Did you hear about what happened at that gas station last week? Brutal," one of his coworkers says, whistling in surprise.

"Yeah, I did. Poor bastard. They catch anybody yet?" Another officer asks. The first one shakes his head.

"Nah. They've still got the dash cam footage, but it's dark and blurry and too shit for an ID. All they've got are guesses."

"Man, that's awful."

Callaghan frowns, not usually very invested in his coworkers' boring conversations, but still somewhat interested. He's usually quite on top of any sort of violent crimes in the area, even if it wasn't his case, just in the possible event that they might be related. If this crime they're talking about was really so brutal, he should've heard about it.

"What happened?" Callaghan asks, and it shows how little he usually involves himself with everyone else when the two gossipers jolt in surprise at his question. The first guy, Fitz-something-or-other, just blinks at him for a moment before speaking up.

"You didn't hear? Some cop over by the state border got ripped to _shreds._ It was like a fucking bear attack or something, except it was at a gas station halfway to town, and dash cams say it was a _person._ Fucking tried to eat him, or something. It was brutal. Surprised you didn't hear anything about it, it made national news."

"Huh," Callaghan says, since there really isn't anything else for him to say. "Who're their suspects?"

"Dunno," The second cop says, "the lights went out halfway through the feed. And even before that, the dash cam isn't the highest quality. It's all fuzzy. All they know is that there was at least two people involved, most likely female." At this, Callaghan freezes.

"What?" It's too presumptuous of him, he knows. It's not as if female criminals don't exist, and it's not even really confirmed that he had a pair of female killers on his hands. And yet he still feels that gnawing in his gut that he gets, the instinct that tells him he needs to _dig deeper._ Surely, they couldn't be that obvious. Surely, this was too coincidental. Surely... But maybe not.

The guy raises a brow. "We said they're most likely female," he repeats. "You alright, man? I know you've been wrapped up in those murders lately, but you've never gotten like _this_ before. At least not since you first got here." Callaghan reassures him that he's fine, but his mind is already elsewhere. It's possible that he's wrong. His gut's not always accurate. But his instincts are strong and far better a lead than none at all, and he isn't going to let this slip away from him.

"I'll be fine," he repeats. "Just gotta work on something real quick."

* * *

All in all, Wyoming really hasn't been that bad.

Sure, it's an awfully small town they're in, meaning the locals are very suspicious and nosy about them, and there's also a lack of internet connection (what with the nearest chain restaurant or library being in the next town over), but other than that, it's been a pretty positive experience.

It's really quiet, since there aren't a lot of people around, and as nosy as the neighbors can be, they're still rather polite, which is good enough for the girls. They aren't looking for friends, after all. They just want to get their work done in peace, which is what they've been able to accomplish, now that they have peace and quiet and some space. There was a huge, thick forest surrounding most of the town, and it's been their secret training grounds since they got here. The foliage is thick enough that no one could see any glowing from Vanya, and yet not so thick that they'd get lost and be unable to find their way out.

One minor issue would be the sudden lack of forest creatures nearby; this is in part due to Vanya's abilities scaring them away, and in part Six eating them. Whenever she gets too hungry, she'll snatch the nearest forest critter out of the bushes and chow down. It never fails to put a look of disgust on Kali's face, but Vanya doesn't let it bother her. She likens the vicious, frantic consumption to the way a starving wolf would ferociously tear into a rabbit they'd caught. Not pretty, but just the circle of life.

In this way, it isn't long before they find out exactly _why_ Six Hungers, and what exactly it's supposed to do.

They don't notice the slight changes at first. Up until then, Six has only really eaten small stuff, like squirrels or rabbits. Behaviorally, they are similar, and therefore she didn't experience much of a change. But then, one day, she and the others come across a wolf. None of them are sure what it's doing on its own, without a pack, just that it looks thin and hungry and angry and prepared to take a bite out of each of them. Before either Kali or Vanya can think to do anything, Six snarls and hunches in on herself, gaining the wolf's full attention immediately. She's the smallest, and (ironically enough) the thinnest, despite how much she consumed so desperately.

Without time for the other girls to react, Six springs forward just as the wolf launches himself at her, and they go tumbling to the ground. They snarl and snap and growl as they brawl, human and wolf almost indistinguishable from each other, and Kali and Vanya can do nothing more than watch, lest they risk hurting themselves or Six by accident. It's all so frenzied and chaotic that they can't even tell who's winning, until they hear a sickening _crack_ and a trailing, sad little whimper. Six, despite not even being in the midst of a Hunger fit, devours the wolf from the jugular downwards, and before long the wolf is just a pile of fur and bones. In the scuffle, Six's hood had fallen off, revealing the mop of dark hair that obscures most of her small, round face. She shrieks at the bareness, a twisted, strangled sound, and yanks the hood back over her head. Six scrambles to a random bush somewhere to hide, curling up on herself in a panic, and stays there.

Kali and Vanya exchange glances, before Vanya takes a tentative step in Six's direction. "Six?" She calls gently, not wanting to startle her. The smaller girl doesn't respond. She's breathing heavily. Another step. "Six?" She repeats, to more silence. It's the third step that elicits a low rumbling sound from the yellow-clad girl, and Vanya freezes, but calls her name again. "Six. Are you okay?" Of course, if Six has anything to tell them, they won't be able to see any signs she makes in this position. But the odd little noises she keeps making worries Vanya, who continues her approach. Suddenly, Six growls, turning to keep her back against the tree as she faces her friends.

Usually, they can't see Six's eyes through the curtain of hair and the shadow of her hood. But now, even through both, they can easily make out the piercing gaze of a wolf staring back at them. Looking at her now, they can see the claws that have replaced her nails, and another snarl reveals the fangs that have replaced her canines. Vanya takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

"Six, it's just us, okay? We're just worried. We're not going to hurt you, I promise. We just want to know if you're alright." Vanya tries to use the most soothing voice she's capable of, and she holds her breath as Six freezes, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. Everything is still until Six breaks it with the clear slump of her stance. She doesn't get any closer, and neither do the other girls, but she also stops growling at them like- well, like a wolf. She flops herself onto the forest floor and looks away with a huff.

Eventually, the other girls go back to their training as well, unwilling to poke the sleeping bear, as one might say. But it isn't as if they could just _not_ address it. An opportunity comes when Vanya sneaks a glance at Six, and notices the girl is not only back to snatching anything that moves, but seems to have lost her claws and fangs. Vanya takes this as her chance, clearing her throat to gain everyone's attention.

"Can we- can we please talk about this now?" She asks. Six freezes, then lowers her hand from its desperate stretch towards a particularly low branch on a tree. She turns to look at them, her other hand still clutching her raincoat as if scared it'll be taken from her again. Her eyes are curtained by her bangs again, presumably back to its original color- whatever that might be. "Six, I know you might not like it, but we- we have to know. What's going on? What _was_ that?" Six remains unmoving, and for a moment the girls think she'll just ignore them again. But then she twitches, releasing her death grip on her coat.

 _'Hunger,'_ She signs. Short and curt, like always.

"Like... your powers?" Vanya asks. "Is that- is that why you're always hungry? You- turn into a wolf?" Six shakes her head.

_'It wants. It feeds. And then... I become it.'_

Vanya can't suppress the shiver that goes down her spine at the terrifying word choice.

"So- so, what? Anything you eat, you just... become? Even vegetables?" It's Kali who asks, for which Vanya is grateful, because she cannot bear to do it herself at the moment. Six shakes her head again.

 _'Alive.'_ Is all she signs, because 'explain' isn't in her vocabulary. Then, at their confused looks, she adds, _'blood',_ as if that's supposed to clear everything up for them.

"Okay," Kali says slowly, "so you eat something alive... something with blood... and then- you gain its power?" Six gives them a stilted nod, fingers twitching like she's about to sign something again, before thinking better of it. The older girls share a glance. Kali nods. "Alright. That's- yep." She sits back down as if nothing happened, intent on pretending none of this was real. Yet. Vanya knows she'll come to argue about getting rid of Six again once they're alone.

"Thank you for being honest with us, Six. It's- it's important that we know these things about each other, okay? We- it's very important." Vanya presses her lips together, then returns to her training.

Just as she thought, Kali ends up arguing with her later that night. They hiss angrily at each other, trying their best to keep their voices down. Six is still in the car a few feet away and there's no telling who else might be around to listen. Still, it's difficult to not let it get the better of them when they're fighting over whether to give Six the boot. Vanya argues Kali into a draw once again, and they return to the car, tension still simmering between them.

Six, of course, can't seem to make things easy for Vanya, since literally the next time they train in the woods she whips out yet another surprise for them- magic.

Or, well, that's what Vanya calls it, since it's not like she has a better name for it. She's sitting there, staring curiously at a squirrel that she miraculously hasn't eaten yet, and then suddenly reaches a hand out and fucking _sucks the life out of this thing_ like it's just a normal thing to casually do on a Tuesday morning.

"Okay, seriously, what the fuck?" Kali says, standing up. Vanya doesn't even have the heart to stop her as she stomps over to Six. "What the fuck was that? Another part of your powers?" Six considers it for a moment, then shakes her head. "Something you ate? I thought those powers were temporary!" They both completely gloss over the question of what the _fuck_ Six could've eaten that would give her _soul-sucking powers_ in favor of how. Kali is quite certain they haven't come across anything like that before, let alone within the last few hours. Six tilts her head.

 _'Eyes,'_ she signs, _'need eyes.'_

Kali really wishes Vanya focused a little more on teaching Six vocabulary before moving on to the whole 'powers' thing, because this is honestly fucking ridiculous. What the fuck is she talking about? She asks exactly that, and Six seems frustrated, clearly unable to find the right words.

 _'Eyes,'_ she repeats. _'Forever. With eyes.'_

"So... you're saying that whatever you eat, the affects are only permanent if you eat their eyes?" Vanya, the designated Traumatized Mute Child Translator surmises. Six nods, and Vanya tries even harder to ignore the biggest question on her and Kali's minds- what the _fuck_ did she eat that gave her those powers? "Okay," she says instead, "is there anything else you can tell us? Any other weird powers you want to tell us about?" Another pause as Six thinks, before pointing her finger at the squirrel's corpse and seemingly concentrating for a moment.

Nothing happens for a few seconds, making Vanya wonder if the other girl just doesn't have the words, before the body lifts off the ground and is surrounded by a dark, swirly haze. It disappears almost as quickly as it came, and the violinist chokes on her breath at the wrinkly, fleshy grey _thing_ that's left behind. It falls back to the ground softly, still dead as a doorknob. The thing is vaguely humanoid in form, with four arms and legs, and yet the head- or its close approximation of it- is shaped like a cone, making up almost more than half its height.

"Oh- I- uh," Vanya splutters. Six looks at them expectantly, but the musician really can't fathom _what_ she could possibly be expecting. "Alright, then," She finally says, then marches back to her training spot and picks up where she left off as if that will solve all her problems. Meanwhile, Kali continues to stare at the creature in a mix of horror, awe, and disgust. The sound of humming energy as Vanya concentrates brings Kali back, and she turns to Six.

"So- that's all, right? That's everything?" Her tone is somewhat pleading now, truly wanting nothing more than to just move on like nothing happened. Six shrugged, because it's not like absorbing the powers of your fallen enemies came with a how-to guide. Kali either understands or just can't handle all this buckwild bullshit anymore, because she just nods and says "carry on," before returning to her own designated corner and going back to training.

* * *

Of course, all good things must come to an end, because it's not like any of these kids have known what a fucking break is.

The 'end' comes in the form of a woman named Carol, because it's always a Carol, and her nosy, nosy ways inciting her to follow them to the forest and eavesdrop on them one day. Because she's just a 'concerned citizen', of course. (To be fair, these kids are plenty suspicious; she has every right to be concerned.)

Kali is in the middle of instructing Vanya on meditation to help focus her powers, while Six finds it appropriate to practice the 'magic' aspect of their powers, trying to drain random bugs and river creatures of their lives. Carol creeps through the bushes, the odd sounds and lights becoming louder and brighter the closer she gets. Eventually, she comes across a little clearing by a bubbling creek, and remains safely behind a large dense thicket as she observes the horrors before her.

The three homeless girls that rolled into town not long ago are, as suspected, sitting in the forest together. However, it is not drugs or other forms of hedonism being committed as she'd feared; it was worse. These girls- demons? One of them is _glowing_ a bright, eerie blue, hair floating around her like gravity was a mere suggestion. The dark-skinned girl- the ringleader, no doubt- is speaking gently to the alien, clearly coaching her through whatever is happening. A few feet away is the last child, the one in the raincoat, surrounded by a haze of darkness as the fish and frogs died in the stream, dark mist rising from their corpses and joining the growing fog around her.

Carol gasps, taking an instinctive step back. Her heart drops into her stomach at the snap of the twig underneath her feet. The raincoat child twitches and immediately turns to the exact shrub Carol is hiding in. The breath is ripped from her lungs as she stumbles backwards and breaks into a run.

"Six?" Vanya calls in confusion. The raincoat-clad child in question had stopped paying attention to the fish, the whirlwind of darkness dissipating around them. They break into a sprint all of a sudden, oddly intent on something the other girls cannot see. Vanya chases after them without hesitation, and Kali yelps and follows, grumbling about ridiculous friends. For a malnourished, stick-thin child, Six is really fucking fast when they want to be. It isn't long before the fluorescent yellow of their raincoat vanishes into the dense underbrush of the forest, and Vanya shrieks, not even sure why she's so scared. Something about the way they ran makes her think something bad is happening.

By the time they catch up to the shorter child, they're standing over a pastel lump on the ground. Coming closer, it's clearly the floral-print corpse of a middle-aged woman, sprawled out face-first on the ground. Vanya gasps, though it can't be distinguished from the heaving, heavy breaths she's already sucking in from her unexpected run. Six continues to stare down at the body until Kali pulls them away, stepping in front to get a better look. Judging from the lack of blood or torn flesh, Six had drained the woman's soul.

"Six! You killed her!" Kali yells. Six points at the dead body.

 _'No blood,'_ They sign. _'Clean.'_

"You _killed_ her," Kali says. Six looks at the corpse again, frowns, then turns back to the older girl.

 _'Clean,'_ They repeat, more indignantly.

"Oh my god," Kali says.

"Okay, hold- hold on," Vanya interrupts, stepping between them. "Did- obviously, she saw us, right? Is that- is that why?" She asks. Six nods. "See? So- you had a reason-"

Kali looks incredulously at Vanya. "Are you shitting me? Vanya, they _killed_ an innocent person! Even after all this shit- you can't seriously fucking tell me you're still going to defend them!"

"Well, what else did you expect them to do? She was spying on us and you know there's no guarantee she'd keep quiet even if she promised! I don't like this either, but-"

"We don't know that that's even what she was doing! She could've just been in the wrong place at the wrong time!"

"But that didn't make her less of a liability!" Vanya insists.

"You want to talk about _liability?_ Six is a fucking liability!"

Vanya's face flushes a deep red. She clenches her fists. "Stop talking about them like that!"

"Why not?! It's fucking true! Every time we learn something new about them, shit gets worse!" Kali shrieks, gesturing towards the kid in question. That being said, she doesn't even looks at Six, somehow not finding it in her to look at them right now.

"That's not true and you know it! They were just trying to protect us!" Vanya stomps her foot in indignation.

Kali scoffs. "Fat load of good that does us! I'm sure we can just tell the cops that!"

"I can't fucking believe you! You're the one who came up with the idea to drive around fucking _killing people_ and you're losing it because Six killed someone you finally couldn't justify killing!" Vanya pants for breath, trembling from her anger as Kali rears back.

The older girl narrows her eyes. "Justify? What, like you think I'm just killing people because I like it? You think they don't deserve what they have coming to them? How is that the same as killing some rando we don't even know?"

"Yes, _justify_ ," Vanya snaps, "because believe it or not, even if justice deserves to be served, that didn't make us the authority on it. I'm not saying we should stop," she added quickly, seeing Kali ready to retort, "because I know that if we don't do it then no one else will, and to me that's so much worse. But at the end of the day what we're doing is _illegal._ We're criminals, Li, which means _no one's_ on our side but _us._ We're all we have, from the moment we shot that guy in the head that first night. That lady was still a threat, enemy or not, vendetta or not. We can't- we can't just kill whoever we want, but sometimes there's no other way to make sure we all stay safe."

The violinist steps closer to the older girl, eyes softening. "I know you're worried. I am too. I mean, we've been yelling around a dead body for like thirty minutes." At this point she laughs a little, and Kali does too, struck by the weirdness of the situation. "But that doesn't mean we can just blow up every time something new happens. Yes, less spontaneous murder would be greatly appreciated because it's very hard to clean up. But I think it's kind of our fault since we're the ones who went down this road in the first place."

Kali sighs heavily. "This is stupid," she says.

"I know." Vanya replies.

"We're probably gonna get ourselves killed," she warns, eyeing the shorter girl. Vanya smiles.

"I know."

"...We should probably do something about this corpse now."

Vanya laughs. "Yeah, I know."

* * *

After they spend about two hours looking for a good place to dump the corpse, digging the hole, and then actually burying her, they decide to go on a little drive to clear their minds and cool off. They probably won't be able to hang around the woods anymore, or at least not in that stretch of it. They need to figure out what they're going to do next.

Vanya watches the moon as it looms over them, watching from a distance. It looks a million times brighter and larger out in the middle of nowhere, and she smiles softly. She wonders what it'd be like, to live on the moon, away from all the chaos. As much as she hates being alone, she thinks it'd be nice to be up there, watching everything from afar, with no one but Kali and Six as company. That'd be a place where they wouldn't have to worry about anything, could float and run and yell and be free.

She pulls herself away from her silly thoughts, watching the roads as Kali drives aimlessly. They'll probably stop for some food soon, though that'd have to be in a different town because of how small this one is.

"I just don't want us to get hurt," Kali says suddenly. Her voice is so soft that it doesn't even startle Vanya or Six, who has fallen asleep in the backseat. Vanya turns to look at their driver.

"I know," Vanya murmurs. "Neither do I. But we have to stick together. There's no going back for us." Kali doesn't say anything for a moment, and they just exist there, quietly, in each other's presence.

"It might not be safe to stay there anymore." She hates to admit it, especially since she knows Vanya was starting to like the place. They hadn't even been there for that long, all things considered. But that's what happens when you randomly murder nosy Karens, Kali supposes.

Vanya sighs. "Yeah, I figured." The air is suddenly heavy with sadness, so Kali clears her throat, trying to lighten the mood.

"I think that was the second time I've ever heard you say 'fuck'," She says, grinning. It takes Vanya a minute until she remembers their argument in the woods. Then she's smiling too.

"What can I say? You're rubbing off on me. It's corruption."

Kali snorts. "Oooh, I'm corrupting you? Alright, then, good. Give in to the dark side, Vanya," She hisses in her best cartoonishly evil voice, and Vanya giggles.

"Better watch out, I might become your clone one day and steal your identity." The violinist narrows her eyes and points at Kali in her best evil witch impression.

"Oh, will you?" Kali asks, sparing her a quick glance. She's still smiling, but it's something warmer yet smaller than before.

Vanya nods. "Mmhmm. I'm gonna become your twin, and then you won't be able to tell the difference between the two of us." Her eyes are closed now, giving in to the desire to relax against the cushioned seat, but she's still smiling.

"Well, we can't have that now, can we?" Kali says softly. They continue driving in silence.

* * *

When Vanya wakes up again, they're in one of the neighboring towns- one that's actually big enough to have some chain restaurants here and there. They all climb out of the car, Six hovering behind Vanya as they stroll up to a Denny's. As they take their seats, Kali heads to the bathroom, brave soul that she is, and Six tugs at Vanya's sleeve. The taller girl turns to face them.

"Yeah?" She prompts.

 _'Sorry,'_ Six signs. At Vanya's look of confusion, they try again. _'The body. Sorry.'_

Vanya blinks, before it finally clicks. "Oh! Hey, it's okay. I wouldn't say you did the right thing, but you did what you had to do. Don't worry, okay? It's all good." Six purses their lips, before hesitantly nodding.

When Kali returns, they've already ordered. "Here," the waitress grunts, slapping the plates down about as aggressively as she could without breaking anything. Vanya leans away and smiles awkwardly at the woman, but she doesn't spare the teenager a second glance, storming away again.

"Let's eat," Kali says, shrugging off the rudeness. She'd probably be miserable too, if she had to work at a smelly Denny's at three in the fucking morning. Vanya helps Six hold cutlery properly, despite them very clearly just wanting to shovel their pancakes into their mouth by the handful.

They all end up giving into their hunger and stuffing their faces in the hopes of ignoring the waitress' stink eye and the buzzing from flies that they couldn't spot. The overhead light for their table keeps flickering, but it was the least sticky table they could find, so they just bare with it until they finish their meals. It's not the best food Vanya's ever tasted, but she also used to eat Grace's cooking three meals a day.

The sudden thought of her mother made her stomach churn. It'd been so long since she allowed herself to think about her. She was the only other person besides Five to pay any attention to her- and yes, Mom is a robot, but that doesn't mean her love meant any less to Vanya. It was just too hard to stay when the only person who cared about you was literally programmed to- not that they even spent any quality time together in the first place. After all, Mom also had other duties- namely, six other children to care for, along with a giant house that came with its own astronomic list of housekeeping chores. Robot she may be, Grace Hargreeves isn't capable of _everything._

Vanya stares down at her plate, hand lowering her fork. She'd unthinkingly ordered a classic breakfast meal, pancakes with bacon and sunny side-up eggs- the same breakfast Grace used to make for her and her siblings every single morning since they'd turned twelve. She tries to shake herself from her thoughts, shifting her gaze in the hopes of finding something else to think about. Instead, her eyes land on Six's spread, which consisted of four or five different things Six just haphazardly pointed at on the menu, whether it be because they couldn't read it all yet or because they'd never had most of these foods before, Vanya didn't know. But they have a double cheeseburger sitting innocently among the plates, and suddenly Vanya is reminded of the time Klaus got high and snuck back into the house at four in the morning. He was so out of it that he apparently _walked_ through a McDonald's drive-thru and ordered a cheeseburger because it sounded _funny_ , then scarfed it down, threw it up, stumbled back home and started waxing poetic about said burger to Ben, who was up waiting for him.

"Hey." Vanya looks up. Kali quirks a brow. "You good?" She gestures to the plate. "You stopped eating. Stomach problems?" Vanya smiled slightly and shook her head.

"No, I'm fine." Now knocked from her thoughts, she returns to her food. "Fond memories" or not, most of them didn't even directly involve her. Half the time when she brought them up, even Five would get surprised and say he didn't know she was there that day. That isn't her home anymore- if it ever was. She's never going back.

* * *

The trio stumble outside, bellies full and content. Vanya and Kali are laughing about some mundane thing or other, but Kali suddenly pauses, brows furrowing. She shushes her friend, who frowns. They're all silent for a moment, which is when they start hearing strange noises. "Hear that?" Kali hisses. Vanya nods vigorously, now looking worried.

"What is that?" Vanya whispers. Kali shrugs.

"Dunno. We'd better go." Not even two steps towards the car, Kali glances back and realizes Vanya's already racing towards the direction of the noise. "Are you _fucking-_ " Kali lets out a frustrated growl and storms after her friends. They follow the sounds into the alleyway behind the Denny's. Kali skids to a halt just as two figures come into view. One of them, a teenage boy as far as she can tell through the shadows, kicks the larger man away from him and pulls out a knife. Before the girls can react, he stabs the man repeatedly in the chest. After the third strike, he pushes the bleeding man off. By the time he hits the floor, the man is not only dead but rotting.

Vanya chokes at the sight of the curling, decaying flesh, the pungent scent of _corpse_ barely changing the Denny's Dumpster smell already in the air. The teenage boy staggers backwards, as if stabbing the man had taken something out of him physically. He brandishes his blade, waving it in front of him as if to protect himself from a group of random girls, before promptly collapsing onto the floor right beside the skeleton and the dumpster.

The girls are silent, standing there and staring at the scene. Eventually, Kali is the first to step forward. She pushes past the smaller girls, leaning in check if the boy is still breathing. She nudges him gingerly with her foot, before finally declaring the coast clear. "I think he's out. Not dead, though. We should leave before he wakes up." Or, at least, that's the plan, until she turns to face her friends and sees the look in Vanya's eyes as she stares down at the unconscious boy. Kali sighs. She's seen that look before. Her fear is only confirmed when Vanya's brain starts functioning again and she races over to the boy, falling on her knees and pushing his head into her lap for examination.

"Fuck. Here we go again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's literally 3 am in the middle of exam week. I have two exams tomorrow that I didn't study for and a test that was due 11:59 pm that I only found out about 10 minutes before the deadline. I don't know how I'm not failing yet.  
> Is anyone even still reading this piece of shit fic? The world may never know lol  
> TMW you're not even halfway through a fic but you're already imagining how you'd reboot/revamp it


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vanya really be out here collecting kids like they're Pokemon cards huh  
> Guess who fucking failed her math class which may or may not be because of a fucking enemies to lovers drarry fic and now has to retake it and possibly go to summer school and die :)

Kali sighs. She really doesn't know why she keeps putting up with this anymore. This is the second kid Vanya "adopted" off the side of the road. It doesn't matter how much of a bad fucking idea Kali thinks all of it is, the next thing she knows she's grabbing his ankles so Vanya can grip his shoulders and carry him to their car.

The damn thing doesn't even have enough space for all four of them despite literally all of them except Kali being short and skinny as hell from a presumed lack of nutrition. Even this new kid is, like, 90 pounds soaking wet. Still, they manage to shove him into the backseat, his neck and limbs twisting at odd angles in order to properly squish him inside. There's so much clutter everywhere that it's honestly less like a car and more like a moving junk box, but Vanya makes do anyways by shoving random boxes and items under the seat or out of the car entirely so that she can lay the boy down at a more restful angle.

Kali just rolls her eyes, not wanting to argue with Vanya over every little thing. As much as she may seem to be looking for a fight, she isn't. She just really, really doesn't think it's a good idea to pick up every dangerous teenager they run into, which, no matter what Vanya may think, is _perfectly valid._ Sure, she more or less did the same with Vanya, but Vanya didn't present herself as dangerous or homicidal, she was shy and naive and clearly vulnerable- something that could get her killed in a big city like that, or worse. So Kali felt compelled to take her in. She felt- not familiar, per say, but like something or someone she's handled before.

Maybe she was an older sister in her childhood. Who knows?

Anyway, it was different. But Vanya will always be Vanya, and at the end of the day, if anything goes too badly she could just kill the kid and they'd be done with it. _After_ telling Vanya "I told you so," of course. Speaking of Vanya, she's still looking over their potential new companion. She's got his head stationed on her lap again, and is now brushing his hair from his eyes. Not very helpful, considering he's unconscious, but there's really not much else she can do in that moment.

Six leans in to look at the newcomer curiously, going so far as to tentatively poke his cheek with a finger. It's as if they've decided they and this punk band reject share a bond after both being snatched from random alleyways in the middle of the night by a girl who spills her feelings everywhere she goes. Which, to be fair, is such an oddly specific scenario that it really seems uncanny. At this point, even Kali is really wondering what the hell it is with murder-happy kids, alleyways, and fast food.

"Do you think that was his first outburst?" Vanya asks. "He passed out so quickly. Is it internal damage?" They've already checked him, and he doesn't seem to have any _visible_ injuries, which makes damage like a concussion or internal bleeding more likely.

Kali shrugs. "Possible. But I don't think so. He wasn't surprised that that guy fucking decayed, like, at all. And really, the only way to find out is to take him to a doctor, so unless you wanna waltz into a hospital and leave him there, I don't think we can do anything other than wait it out."

Vanya huffs, but obliges. Six pokes her, and when they gain her attention, they sign, _'pretty'._ Vanya blinks, then laughs.

"Hm, well, I guess so. I wasn't really thinking about that, but he's definitely kind of adorable, isn't he?" Despite his stick-thin figure, the boy _does_ have a stubborn layer of baby fat on his cheeks that Vanya seems to enjoy poking, now that it's been brought up. Couple that with his mop of curly black hair, and he'd probably have gotten a lot of attention from his peers- y'know, if he didn't also look like the walking dead. "He's so thin, though. I don't think he's eating enough..."

Kali takes that as her cue to lay back in the driver's seat and take a nap. "Wake me when someone dies," she says, and is off to dreamland not long after.

* * *

_"Look, Bibi! Look!" Bibi trots over to him, smiling indulgently. He frantically points at the display case, eyes wide as dinner plates. "It's here! It's actually here!"_

_"Yes, I see that. Isn't that great? You should go ask Mamma if she'll buy it, yeah?" She says. He nods vigorously, then runs off to find their Mother. The woman in question is only a few feet away, trying to hide the smile on her face as her son runs up to her in excitement._

_"Mamma, Mamma, Mamma!" He exclaims, tugging on her skirt._

_"Yes, dear?" She's still inspecting a sweater. Her son tries his best to remain patient, but she can tell he's practically buzzing in place. She can't help but want to tease her adorable boy._

_"Mamma look, look! The special set is out! Over there, come look! They have it!" He points back in the direction he came, tugging insistently again on her clothes. She chuckles._

_"Okay, okay, tesoro," She says placatingly, allowing herself to be pulled along. When they reach it, he presses a hand to the display again and stares in awe._

_"It's the last set! The last one!" His mother nods, having heard it a thousand times before._

_"Yes, yes, the last one to complete your collection. I know, darling, I know." She beckons the shopkeeper over, and he arrives with a sunny smile._

_"I knew it wouldn't be long til he spotted it," He chuckles, and she snorts._

_"It's the only thing he sees in this whole store, I'm sure." She then purchases it, because she promised, and Mamma has always kept her promises to her little tesoro. As they leave the store, the boy's hands in Bibi's and Mamma's, she swings their interlocked hands idly. "Are you happy now, dear?" She asks, though there really isn't a point when her son is beaming with joy._

_"Sì, Mamma! Thank you!" He shouts, and she shakes her head, smiling._

_"Now, just remember what I said, okay? I bought it like I promised, so what will you do?" She tilts her head, prompting his response._

_"I have to be a good boy for Bibi and her Papa all weekend," he repeats with the exasperation of a child who has been nagged many times. His Mamma sighs._

_"He's your Papa, too, tesoro," she tells him, and he huffs but says nothing. No matter what his Mamma says, that man is not his Papa. He doesn't_ have _a Papa, and he's very okay with that._

_As if sensing his soured mood, Bibi nudges him. "If you want, we can play a round in the car," she offers, and he smiles. Bibi almost never plays Mythomagic with him anymore- she thinks it to be too silly for a big girl like her- so she must really want him to cheer up._

_"Really?" His eyes are shining, and Bibi laughs._

_"Yeah, really. As long as I get to have the pegasus."_

_He bounces excitedly. "It's a deal, a deal!" With that, Bibi lets go of his hand, sprinting to the car._

_"Race you!" Her little brother shrieks in indignation and chases after her, his brand new Mythomagic box set clutched in his hands._

_"Hey! No running, you two!" Their Mamma calls, but her little ones are too busy racing each other to listen. Later, she will scold them, and they will apologize half-heartedly and beg her for ice cream when they're halfway home. Later, they'll thank her cheerfully, skipping up the driveway with their ice cream. Later, they'll say goodbye to her and go to Bibi's Papa's place, and it'll be the last time they have ice cream with Mamma again._

* * *

When the boy wakes, being met with two curious gazes peering down at him is not the first thing he expects. Or, at least, not a pair of strangers staring at him in the dark. He lets out a strangled yelp and shoots up in his seat, twisting hastily and slamming his back against the door. He's without his dagger- they've likely stolen it from him- but he's dangerous even without it.

The shadows bend to his will, twisting and curling around him. He's unsure if it's better to run or fight, but either way he's planning on making it out alive. The long-haired girl- who as he just realizes, he must've been _sleeping_ on- raises her arms, putting her palms up in front of him in a placating manner. "Whoa whoa whoa, calm down. We don't wanna hurt you or anything." He doesn't know if she's some kind of idiot, or just thinks that _he_ is, but he's been at this for too long to fall for something that fucking stupid. He narrows his eyes and presses himself deeper into the shadows, fully prepared to leave his knife behind and vanish.

"Who are you? What do you want?" He demands hoarsely. He has to bite down the cough that results, what with his throat feeling like sandpaper.

"Nothing! You just passed out right in front of us and we were worried!" The girl slowly and deliberately lowers one of her hands, eyes still on him. "I'm going to pull out some water, okay? It's just completely normal water." He watches intently as she does just as she says, gradually offering him a bottle of water from the stash beneath her foot. A chord-like portion of shadow stretches out to curl around it and present it to him. He inspects it carefully, still keeping the girls in his vision.

The bottle is still completely sealed, but he still cautiously sniffs it before taking the smallest of sips. Once he deems it safe enough, he takes a full gulp, then two, then chugs the whole bottle, even though he still believes he shouldn't. By the time he's done, he's gasping for breath, crushing the bottle in in hand. He wipes his lips with the back of his hand.

"Better?" She asks, and he purses his lips.

Instead of answering, he repeats, "Who are you?" She smiles tentatively.

"I'm Vanya. That's Six." She gestures towards the hooded figure beside her, who makes no move to identify themselves with him and instead continues to ominously stare, which wouldn't be so unnerving if he could see their face. "Like I said, you passed out in front of us, so we brought you to the car. I figured it was better than leaving you beside a Denny's dumpster." The look on his face makes it obviously that he clearly thinks leaving him would've been the better option, but Vanya chooses to ignore it. "So, what's your name?" He eyes her carefully, weighing the potential consequences of telling her. Eventually, he decides it probably wouldn't be that bad.

"Nico."

Vanya smiles, glad to finally put a name to his face. "Nice to meet you, Nico!" She sticks a hand out for him to shake, which he does, after more deliberation.

"Sure." His tone is flat and his eyes blatantly suspicious, but Vanya doesn't let it phase her. She'd be uncomfortable too, if she woke up in someone's lap in their car and they started talking her ear off.

"So, what happened back there?" She immediately regrets asking upon seeing him tense. His eyes dart around again, but Vanya pushes anyway, because even if it felt rude, she still needs to know- after all, they could be of help to each other. "Is that- like, normal for you, or?"

"Why do you wanna know?" He snaps. Vanya raises a brow.

"Why wouldn't I?" She counters, because if there's one thing being around Kali has taught her, it's how to be That Person. At his resounding silence, Vanya decides she needs to get him to trust her more. "Don't worry. I'm not here to, like, probe you or something. It's just not something you see every day, y'know? I think we could be of help to each other." At Nico's less-than-impressed look, she decides a demonstration is in order. She leans into the front seat and jabs Kali awake.

"Wakey, wakey! Nico's up and we need to bond!" The older girl lets out an unflattering snort and jolts up, hand flying to her waist for her gun.

"Wha-?" She splutters.

"Bonding time! We're having a show and tell! Do some illusions and stuff and I'll make something float!" Vanya digs around in the seats for something to demonstrate with, and was clearly not giving enough time for Kali understand what the fuck is happening. "His name is Nico and we need to show him our powers!" And with that, she snatches a trash-filled KFC bucket, tumbles out of the car, and moves a few feet away to demonstrate without concerns. "Ready? Okay, okay, look." She spreads the trash around her in a circle, then sets their makeshift trash bin on the ground, and hums low in her throat. It's more difficult to use a sound the quieter it is, but she's been practicing so that she doesn't have to rely on just her violin.

It's a bit weak, and it takes a little longer than it would with her instrument, but eventually she could feel the telltale pulsing in the air, the thrumming in her veins as energy ripples around her. The energy flings the garbage several feet away, and when she opens her eyes, Vanya grins at the astonished look on Nico's face.

"I've been practicing! Ain't it neat? Not as cool as Kali or anything, but it's still really cool." Vanya rambles as she shoves her way back into the car. Nico's so surprised that he doesn't even complain as she practically crawls over him to get inside. "Li, Li! Make little glowy lights or something!" Kali rolls her eyes but complies. The darkness serves as an advantage in this sense, since the little glowing blue flames she conjures look even brighter in the shadows. They hover in the air softly, and Vanya claps enthusiastically. Six stares in awe, then tentatively reaches out to poke one of the imaginary flames. She frowns when she goes right through it.

"Obviously, I can make people see shit," Kali says. The flames are gone in an instant. "So what's your shtick? You mummify people?" Nico purses his lips, but Kali goads him. "C'mon, she literally woke me up for a fucking magic show. And it's not like we didn't see you kill the shit out of that guy." Nico snorts at the description of his actions, and eventually relents.

"Not quite. I can make stuff- decay, I guess. Only if it's alive, though, so I can't, like, rust metal or anything, but I can kill stuff and rot it on contact." He watches their reactions carefully, and is surprised to find none of them seem disgusted or uncomfortable. He clears his throat. "And I, uh, can raise the dead. Kind of."

Kali raises a brow. "Kind of?" Nico shrugs.

"Yeah, like, summoning corpses and stuff, but I can't- I can't _bring them back._ They're dead, so they stay dead, and I can control them, but they're not _themselves_ anymore." There's bitterness in his words, as if there's something more to it than just an explanation of his abilities. "Oh, and, uh, shadows. Those too." Nico initially wanted to keep that part to himself, a last-minute escape plan of sorts, but it's not like Vanya didn't see him basically get draped in darkness as soon as he woke up.

"Cool!" Vanya exclaims. Kali hums. Nico blinks.

"You're not... scared?"

"No way! We've seen weirder. Plus, we kill people, so-" Vanya's interrupted by Kali hissing at her.

"Really? _Really?"_

"What?" Vanya's face is too innocent for her words. "He stabbed a man to death behind a Denny's. I don't think he can judge us."

"I- okay, fair," Kali admits. "But, y'know, ease into it, maybe?" Which, honestly Vanya and Nico weren't even sure how someone _would_ ease into admitting to murder, but he can see where Kali is coming from. "Anyway, what _were_ you killing him over, anyway?"

"He stole my wallet, so I chased him and fought him for it."

"And then you stabbed him for it?"

Nico shrugs. "Yeah."

"I, for one, think that's fair," Vanya says, giving Kali a very pointed look. The older girl rolls her eyes.

"I bet you do. Anyway, you're better now, so you can leave, right?"

"Li! Come on! That's not nice! We should try and be friends!" Vanya snatches one of Nico's hands and gives him this wide-eyed look that makes something in his gut coil. "The more the merrier, right? I mean, it's not like any of us has anyone else to rely on! Us vigilantes gotta stick together!"

"And here comes the sales pitch," Kali mutters, shuffling some things around until she finds her Gatorade.

"Uh," Nico says, very intelligently. "What?"

"We're vigilantes! That's why we kill people! It's revenge and stuff. Mostly it's revenge on Kali's abusers but we're accepting other people's vices too!" Her eyes are practically glittering and it makes Nico lean away instinctively. She's still clutching his hand, which is off-putting enough that he almost misses what she said.

"Revenge?" He repeats, and Vanya's grin widens. Distantly, Kali thinks that if they were full-blown criminals, Vanya would make a lovely con-artist. She's certainly charming enough, in her own endearing way.

"Yes! Revenge! Because no one else will give us justice, so we're doing it ourselves." The sudden determination in face catches Nico off-guard. "We can't leave each other behind. No one else is going to help us, no one is going to be on our side but us." Her hands squeeze Nico's tighter for just a moment, before she smiles again. "I know it's kinda fast, but I think we should be friends. Even if you don't have anyone you want to take revenge on, even if you don't want to help us, it couldn't hurt to have someone else on our side, y'know? And we could help you too, whenever you need it, whatever you need. A perfectly symbiotic relationship!" Nico meets her gaze, as if searching for something in her eyes.

"This whole... vigilante thing. Are you willing to kill _anyone_?"

"Anyone who deserves it," Kali is quick to say. Nico glances at her, then back to Vanya.

"Even if they're powerful?" His voice is quiet and careful, but his stance is slowly loosing its tension.

"They usually are." It's Vanya who responds this time. Her hands are still cupping his, and at this point it's possible she won't let go until he gives her an answer.

"Even if they might try to kill us first?"

"Wouldn't be the first time," Kali shrugs. After all, not every mission ended completely perfectly.

"So?" Vanya probes. It unsettles Nico, how achingly familiar her big brown eyes are. The childlike excitement, as if they're not talking about possibly murdering an incredibly powerful person. It reminds him of- well.

There's a long moment of silence as he deliberates, but honestly, there isn't really a point. He's been so fucking alone for so fucking long that he's really, really desperate for just _anyone_ already. Even a weird, probably mentally unstable group of serial-killing vigilante teenage girls.

"Fine." Vanya lights up at that single word, but Nico is quick to add, "On one condition. I'm not living in a fucking car. I say we ditch it and head over to my place."

"That's two," Kali points out at the same time that Vanya says "Sure!" Kali's brows shoot up. "And where the hell are we getting another car?" And why the fuck is this kid coming in and deciding to call the shots? Both questions are answered when the boy wordlessly pulls out a black card from his wallet. "Oh." Kali turns to Vanya. "Y'know what? This whole adoption thing ain't that bad." Vanya would reprimand her if she wasn't so clearly thrilled. She just made a new friend!

* * *

"So, just to be clear, you're _not_ leading us to our deaths, right?" Kali must've asked some variation of this about five times in the last three minutes that they've been following Nico, and Vanya elbows the older girl in her side.

"There'd be no point. You'd have nothing I want," he says flippantly, and Kali thinks if he wasn't so fucking suspicious maybe they'd get along. Maybe.

They finally make it to a parking lot, a single black Bentley coming up in the distance. It's parked mostly in the shadows, but there's a street lamp not far from it. They can just barely make out the faintest outlines of a figure in the front seat. Kali frowns, walking a little faster to put herself in front of Vanya and Six. Nico pulls out his keys and unlocks the door when he's a few feet away, then sliding into one of the seats. It's only when the girls settle into the (admittedly nice) car that they see the figure is a slumped-over man in a suit. Kali narrows her eyes.

"Is he dead?"

"Don't be silly," Nico mutters distractedly. He pulls out a game boy advance from a random seat pocket and boots it up. "He works for me. Of course he's dead." As if on cue (and really, perhaps it was), the corpse jerks up in its seat, hands flying up to the wheel. Kali gasps and slams her back against the seat, snatching Vanya's wrist without thinking. "To the house, Jules-Albert." The zombie complies, starting up the engine and pulling out of the lot.

"So how far is this safe house, anyway?" Vanya asks.

"Not a safe house, but it's, like, an hour out. I was on my way there when I stopped for food."

"So, it's just... an extra house?"

Nico shrugs. "Yeah, I guess. I'd have to ask, but I'm pretty sure Hades doesn't even remember that he owns this place. Better for me, anyway. He might know where I am, but he sure as hell isn't hauling ass over to the middle of butt-fucking-nowhere Ohio to get me to come back."

"Why does your dad-?"

"-He's not my fucking dad," Nico snaps, then scowls when he sees Vanya flinch. "I- I'm sorry, I- I didn't mean to yell. I just- hate when people call him that." She nods, not knowing what's happening but also somehow understanding. She hates calling Reginald "dad" too. Even if she does it anyways. Life's complicated like that. "He's my legal guardian," Nico insists.

"Then why does your legal guardian have so many houses that he can forget which ones he has?"

Nico pauses, weighing the benefits of honesty. "He's a drug lord, I think." Then goes back to playing his game as if he hasn't dropped such a big fucking bomb on them.

"You think?" Kali repeats.

Nico rolls his eyes. "Well it's not like he fucking tells me anything, especially not all about his intimate business practices. What adult would?" He huffs. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure he's, like, mafia or something. Or just a really, really weird rich guy." At the looks on Kali's and Vanya's faces, he gestures to Jules-Albert, his resident zombie chauffeur. "Where do you think I got the corpse?"

* * *

When they finally arrive, the sun has already risen. They roll up to giant gates that close off what seems to just be a forest. After sticking his head out the window and saying something in Italian into the machine, the wrought-iron gates slowly pull open. It takes them longer than Kali can even fathom before the house finally comes into view. She nudges Vanya awake just as Nico shoves the door open and hops out. Vanya yawns and stretches as she slides out of the car, while Kali has to pick her jaw up from the floor at the massive fucking size of the house. It doesn't even fit to call it a house, seeing as it's three stories high and even wider than it is tall. There's a winding cobblestone path leading up to the front door and recently-tended shrubs lining the house's foundation.

"This is just a throwaway house?" Kali asks incredulously.

"Like I said, drug lord." Nico doesn't even hesitate as he heads down the path.

"But if it's abandoned, why is it so well-tended?" Vanya isn't as awed as Kali, having lived in a house roughly as big as this, but it's still beyond what she was expecting. Plus, it's quite impressive still.

"Hades has all sorts of people hired to come look after his properties. He doesn't even look over his own finances. You don't have to worry about the caretakers, though. They know better than to ask questions." Vanya hums and drops it, skipping after Nico excitedly. As fun as life on the road is, she kind of misses nice, hot showers in real bathtubs and actual beds. Kali snaps out of it and follows after them, Six slinking behind to complete the procession of killer teenagers.

The double doors swing open before they even reach the top of the front steps. A man in a button-up and slacks stands there looking almost nervous. "Mr. Di Angelo," He greets, glancing at the trio of extremely conspicuous homeless girls behind the boy. "Good morning. Our apologies, but we didn't anticipate your arrival. There is very little food inside. Would you like us to bring you and your guests something to eat?" He moves to the side as he speaks, giving Nico a wide berth as he enters.

"No, I already ate. Just buy us a week's worth of groceries, and uh," He looks back at the girls, calculating the amount of bags they're carrying. "Some clothes, for them. Otherwise, leave us be." The man nods and disappears, as does a number of people that the girls didn't even realize were in the room until they'd left.

"I guess you guys should pick a room now," Nico says. "Most of them are upstairs. Just don't go into the third one on the right. It should be locked, but anyway, leave it alone." Without anything left to say, their new friend steps into the nearest shadow and vanishes. Vanya stares after him in surprise. She didn't know he could do _that._

She shakes it off almost immediately, overcome with excitement. A house! A fucking house! And they get to pick their rooms! She turns to Kali, face split into a grin. The girl in question huffs, seeing Vanya practically vibrating with joy. "Race you!" She yells, then bolts upstairs. Kali squawks, not actually caring which room she got (they're all probably huge anyway) but still stirred by the deep-seeded, childish part of her that gets excited by competition.

She sprints after Vanya, threatening to clobber the giggling girl ahead of her. Vanya, on the other hand, insists she's going to get the best room in the house and there's nothing Kali can do about it. It's not long before they manage to pick rooms without killing each other, settling for the two closest together. Both had their own full baths and a large, lovely view of the vast gardens in the back, and Vanya sighs in contentment as she stares out the window.

"It's so pretty out here." Kali hums in agreement, laying on the floor a few feet away. "I think this is going to be great. Things are going to get better now, I can feel it." Vanya can't help the smile playing on her lips, and Kali watches her stare dreamily at the flowers. She doesn't say what she's really thinking, doesn't say that she trusts Nico about as far as she can throw him, or that the temptation to get as much out of this as possible before whatever trap he might have laid is sprung is far too strong to pass up. She knows that, despite everything, Vanya is still optimistic about their lives. She still believes that somehow, in some way, things will turn out alright for them.

And maybe it is unwise of her, but Kali doesn't want Vanya to lose that belief. Even if she admonishes her or complains about her tendency to spill her heart everywhere, she never wants Vanya to change. Between the two of them, this just might be the thing that keeps Kali from completely ruining her.

"Did Six find a room yet?" Kali asks instead.

"I think so. She took off down the hall a while ago and hasn't come back, so she's probably showering or something." Vanya pulls away from the window, eyeing the room. "There's so much natural light here." Kali sits up.

"Yes, pretty much one of the only things in here, too." She snorts when Vanya frowns at her. She's right, anyway. Sure, it's got the furnishings of a proper bedroom- a clean bed, a large closet, and even a full attached bath, but that's it. It's stripped bare of any decor or design or personality. Everything is neutrally-colored, from the bare white walls to the plain bedding. There isn't a picture or painting or nick-knack in sight. "What? It's true. Don't tell me it isn't."

"Well, seeing as it's a guest room in an unused house full of guest rooms, I'm sure it's to be expected," Vanya says primly. Kali rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." She pushes herself off the ground and groans, cracking her spine. "I'll go check on Raincoat Kid. You, just... I dunno. Don't die." It's Vanya's turn to roll her eyes as Kali glides out the door.

As it turns out, Six seems to be adjusting rather well to their new living situation. She's picked a room that doesn't have a lot of lighting, a heavy set of drapes covering the only window in the room. At first, Kali doesn't even realize that Six is there until the nightstand rattles and swings outward, revealing a similarly sized entrance behind it. Six pops her head out, likely summoned by the sound of Kali calling for her.

Kali jumps back in surprise. "Oh. Uh, I guess you found a room," she says awkwardly. Six stares at her. Kali clears her throat. "Right, well, that's nice. I'm pretty sure the staff are back with the food, so you can go down and eat whenever." With that, Kali all but runs away, leaving Six to enjoy herself in her new extra attic space.

* * *

"So, we should probably talk about... it." They're all sitting in Vanya's room, having been (forcefully) invited to do some group bonding to establish their "friendship". Nico shifts his weight, trying not to look as awkward as he obviously feels. Vanya peers at him curiously. "Y'know, the killing people thing." Vanya lights up.

"Oh, yeah! I was gonna wait until to tomorrow so we could all get comfy, but if you're ready to talk, then sure! What do you wanna talk about?"

"A few things. I don't know how you guys operate, but I've got transportation and I have connections that can help track people. I just need to know what I'm working with."

Vanya nods. "Makes sense. Well, we could, like, train together or something tomorrow so you can see what we've got, and vice versa. Otherwise, we kinda just... go with the flow?" She shrugs.

"It's not 'going with the flow', it's just not having much to go off of. We didn't have resources, like, at all. So we could only find the targets that were still out in the open. There aren't even that many of them to begin with. Then we'd hitch a ride, kill them, steal some of their shit, and keep moving." Kali interjects. Nico nods contemplatively.

"Okay, so basically you guys need a serious upgrade. How many people have you actually killed?"

Kali thinks for a moment. "10 people? I can give you their names. I'm pretty sure they've got some records about them online." Nico agrees and Kali gives him a list of all their previous victims so he could look them up. "Now it's your turn. Tell me about the people you're trying to kill."

Nico purses his lips. "My uncle," he finally says. "And- my cousin. Maybe some others, but until I find out more it's just those two." He eyes them, perhaps half expecting them to pry, but the girls just accept the answer.

"We should probably start a murder board," Vanya suggests. "And, like, an office space to keep track of everything." After all, they probably will end up with more targets than they can handle depending on how this goes. There were hundreds of staff members that worked at the lab Kali was held captive in, and even Kali herself is unsure of how far she'll end up taking this. Add to that Nico and his unknown number of targets, and things could become extremely complicated.

"Sure. We can use the room across the hall." Nico gets up, stretching a little, and makes for the door.

"Wait, where are you going?"

He looks at Vanya in confusion. "My room?" She pouts, and he shifts uncomfortably.

"Why? Don't you wanna stay and hang out? We should all get to know each other!" Kali snorts as Vanya's puppy dog eyes are activated. Nico leans back a little.

"Uh..." He winces when her puppy dog eyes get even wider and shinier.

"Didn't you want to be our friend?" Nico doesn't remember when the fuck he ever said that, but it's not like that matters when he has a very pushy, very wide-eyed teenage girl invading his personal space and begging him to "team bond" with her and her friends. Why did he agree to this again? He didn't sign up for a fucking sleepover with some strangers. He needs to put his foot down and leave.

He sits back down.

"Yay! Okay, so first thing's first, I read all about this in a magazine once! We should all share something about ourselves that will bring us closer to each other!" Vanya immediately whips out a well-worn magazine from God-knows-where, thumbing frantically through the pages. "Okay! We could play truth or dare, or twenty questions, or- oh! 'Would You Rather'! This page has a ton of suggested questions!" At the sight of the bubblegum pink, sugar-sweet atrocity that tried to pass itself off as a magazine page, Nico knows this night is going to be fucking miserable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tesoro - treasure  
> Good news guys! I've decided to just write out a bunch of chapters and then uploading them on a weekly basis instead of just writing a single chapter and uploading it. This means when/if I run out of chapters before writing new ones, the breaks will be longer, but at least the uploads will be more consistent, and the story will hopefully run smoother. I usually don't beta read or plan ahead, which is why there are typos and errors and plot issues in a lot of my stories lol. So, yeah! That's the plan!


	9. Chapter 9

Daylight can't come fast enough. By the time Vanya awakes, Nico is long gone, having melted into the shadows and reappearing in the kitchen. The only one who seems to notice is Six, who just stares at him eerily from across the room, huddled in its darkest corner.

There's a chef there already preparing the kitchen, no doubt called in for work at the sudden appearance of the "Young Master".

“Is there anything in particular that you would like?” The chef asks, and Nico thinks about it, then ultimately shrugs.

“Just nothing too heavy. And no bell peppers or brussel sprouts,” he says, and the chef nods and begins pulling out ingredients. Nico would totally change his clothes if he thought that it mattered. He’s in a baggy shirt and sweatpants, but getting a change of clothes would only mean yet another baggy shirt and sweatpants.

By the time breakfast is served, everyone has made it downstairs, lulled by the delicious smell of proper food. They’re all in varying states of morning disarray, from Kali, whose hair is tousled but is generally aware, to Vanya, who might as well have sleep walked into the dining room and seems about ready to face plant into her omelette. The only one who seems to remain unchanged is Six, who arrives in her signature yellow raincoat, hood obscuring her face as per usual. She could honestly be half asleep beneath that hood and they’d all be none the wiser.

Nico clears his throat, and everyone looks up from their food. “I figured we should train after breakfast, maybe in an hour or two to digest and stuff.” Vanya nods.

“Yeah, sure.” She glances at Kali, who shrugs. If Six has an opinion, she doesn’t express it. 

And so, about an hour later, they head out to the backyard to train. They aren’t quite sure what they’re supposed to _do,_ per say, so really it’s just them individually using their powers as much as possible for as long as possible without destroying anything, all in the effort to improve their strength and stamina.

Of course, such uncoordinated and poorly-planned training doesn’t take long to actually backfire. At the three-hour mark, they are already exhausted, and all it takes is one stray energy wave from Vanya that knocks Nico over. He snarls, shoving himself back onto his feet as she runs over to him.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry! Are you-” She’s cut off as he spins to face her.

“Could you maybe fucking control yourself? You’re not the only one fucking standing out here, y’know!”

She recoils, face flushing in shame. “I’m sorry!” She repeats, but Kali swoops in before she can start groveling.

“She fucking apologized already, asshole! It was a fucking accident! She’s human, too, you shitbag!”

“Guys, please, don’t-” Vanya’s pleas go unheard. Nico steps forward menacingly, and Kali does too, not intimidated by an emo MySpace boy only half her size.

“Well maybe if she got a fucking _grip_ she wouldn’t be making fucking mistakes!”

Kali scoffs. “Oh, what, like you, mister dark-and-fucking-brooding? You think you’re in a place to tell her how she’s doing with her own fucking powers? Who fucking died and made you king?”

“I don’t need to be king to see that she doesn’t know what she’s fucking doing!”

“Maybe because she had a late start, you dickhead! She just learned that she had fucking powers this year! But, oh, you think she can just be perfect off the bat or something? Like you, right? Sir Perfect?”

Nico scowls. “I never said-”

“-You didn’t have to! You’ve probably been using your powers since day one, being Daddy’s Special Little Necromancer, running around with a million houses and cars and shit, just because you’ve got fucking powers-”

“This has nothing to do with that!”

“Oh, right, because it’s actually all about your uncle, right? What’d he even do to piss you off anyway? He step on Daddy Dearest’s toes? Called you spoiled? Told your dad not to buy another fucking car you can’t even drive-?”

The ground trembles, shadows whipping around them, and it’s only then that Kali realizes Vanya’s insistent tugging on her arm wasn’t just to get them to stop, but to notice the growing darkness around Nico. 

The grass at his feet dies, spreading its rot slowly outwards. The earth starts cracking, and Kali can see bones trying to claw their way out of the dirt, letting out a distinct click-clack as they clatter against each other. Nico either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care, still screaming at the top of his lungs. “He killed them! He fucking killed them! He killed them, he killed them, he-” And suddenly, just as quickly as it started, it’s over. The shadows don’t die but they freeze, the bones retreat, the earth stops trembling. “Don’t you fucking _dare_ ,” he chokes, the fire in him dimming. His eyes are more bitter than angry, now. “Don’t you fucking dare.” He dips into the shadows and disappears.

* * *

“Li, just wait-”

“ _No,_ Vanya. We need to leave.” Kali shoves another shirt into her bag. As much as she wants to enjoy running water and warm beds, she refuses to stay if he’s going to treat Vanya- or any of them- this way. She’s not desperate enough to lay down and take this from some filthy rich asshat in black.

“I’m not saying we should stay, I just- can we just wait to leave?” At Kali’s look, Vanya adds quickly, “I just- I’m really tired, you know? And- and I’m sure Six would want to eat before we go, you know how hungry she gets, and- don’t you want a shower? Or to take a nap before we hit the road?” Her intentions are obvious, but Kali finds herself torn anyway.

“I’m not staying here,” she repeats, “not if he’s going to be like this.”

“I know, but isn’t it a little too fast, to run at the first sign of trouble?”

“That’s how we’ve been able to stay out of danger this entire time.” Kali reminds her.

“Yeah, but that’s with crime. That’s not how _people_ work. We don’t even know why he did that.” She grabs Kali’s hands. “If he doesn’t apologize, we can leave. But- just wait. Please?” Kali eyes her, frowning.

“One day. He gets _one_ day. Then we leave.”

Vanya smiles. “Okay.”

* * *

It’s late when Vanya hears a knock on her door. She’s just come out of the shower not long before, so she’s already in her pajamas and is actually preparing for bed. She slips out of the blankets somewhat reluctantly, expecting Kali on the other end.

Instead, she’s met with a fidgeting Nico, who looks ready to bolt any second. “Yes?” She prompts, pursing her lips. He looks so nervous that she almost feels sorry for him, if not for the reminder of how he acted today.

“I- uh,” His gaze falls to the ground, before he seems to remember that he’s supposed to maintain eye contact and forces himself to look back up. It’s only for a moment, before he looks down again. “I,” he clears his throat, and Vanya grabs the door handle. She doesn’t mean to close it on him, but Nico seems to think so, and blurts out a panicked, “Wait!”

Vanya’s startled face makes him sigh. “I just- came to- apologize.” He practically has to force out the words, but not in a way that makes him sound insincere. More like he isn’t used to apologizing. “I- I’m sorry about today. I was… out of line. Rude. I had no right to say what I did. I- don’t really have an excuse. I don’t think there is one.” 

She eyes him for a silent, tense moment, then opens the door a little wider. “Come in.” He slinks in, looking extremely out of place in the corner he chooses to stick himself in. Vanya plops onto the bed. “Why?” She asks.

He takes a deep breath. “I- I don’t know. I guess I’ve just been… stressed, lately. I’ve got a lot going on and I don’t know what I’m doing and I just- I’ve never been able to handle that well, I don’t think. But I- none of that’s an excuse. I still shouldn’t have done that.” He spares her an awkward glance.

Vanya nods slowly, mulling over it. He’s right, that isn’t an excuse, but the fact that he came to apologize on his own and owned up to it certainly spoke of promise to her. She knows what it’s like to lash out, to say and do things she maybe shouldn’t, just because her emotions got the better of her. After all, they’re all still just teenagers. They’re going to screw up and say shit they shouldn’t. What matters is how they handle the aftermath.

“Yeah, you shouldn't've.” Nico nods. “You won’t do it again, will you?”

He shakes his head vigorously. “No.” He says quickly. They’re both quiet, before Vanya smiles.

“Then, I guess we’re alright, right?”

He’s surprised by her response, perhaps expecting her to hold a grudge, but Vanya doesn’t really have it in her to hate him. Unlike the people she _does_ hold a grudge against, Nico actually apologized. Nico’s actually sorry. Nico actually seems to fucking care, and doesn’t act like he’s beyond making mistakes or owning up to them. 

“Though, I do think I need to know something first.” Nico tenses. “I know you probably don’t want me in your business, but I don’t think we can all get past this and function as a group if you can’t at least get me to understand. Why do you want to kill your uncle? Why did you agree to team up with us?” She leaves out the question, _are you really serious about this?_ Because really, if she isn’t even sure how motivated Nico is, or even _what_ his motivation is, she doesn’t know if they could continue a partnership.

What if his motivations are as petty as Kali claims? What if he’s as petulant and immature as Kali thinks he might be, and the outburst today is a commonplace event- if that was a regular tantrum and not a breakdown of some sort, how is she to know unless she sticks around long enough? None of them have time for that, as much as Vanya would like to say they do. And they can’t keep someone like that around. They have to know.

Nico bites his lip, thinking, before finally giving in. “Okay. Okay, I’ll tell you.” He slumps, curling in on himself. “I agreed to team up with you because I want to kill him, but I know- I know he’s too strong. Even with my powers, I can’t even get close enough to try. And even if I managed to do it, somehow, I know that- doing this will mean that I’ll have people after me. People just as strong as he is, and I don’t think I could survive that by myself, as much as I wish I could. But- he _has_ to die. He deserves it.” She can see the rage filling every inch of him, the way he clenches his fists until she sees blood dripping off his palm. Nico doesn’t notice.

“If I don’t kill him, no one else will. They’ll never get justice. He’ll get away with it, the same way he gets away with everything, and I-” She snatches his wrist, which snaps him out of whatever spiral he was about to go down. It’s only then that he recognizes the blood. He relaxes his hands, and absently wipes it on his shirt. Vanya catches a glimpse of his palm, still smeared with a little bit of blood, and sees the old- crescent-shaped scars littering the skin.

“I can’t let that happen. Not when he- he- _killed_ my family.” The admission seems to take a lot out of him, and Vanya looks up, the cogs in her brain screeching to a halt. “I-” He looks like a small wind could knock him over, so Vanya pulls him down to sit with her on the bed. He doesn’t resist. His hands are shaking, some of the blood catching on the blankets, but Vanya doesn’t try to stop it. 

“I had- a sister,” he whispers, wringing his hands, “and a- mother. And- and he _killed_ them, they did nothing wrong, but he killed them because-” he chokes, “because they were _in his way._ He thought- they were a distraction to his brother, a weakness, so he-” he dips his head, refusing even in his distraught state to let anyone see him cry. She can hear him heaving, trying to calm himself enough to banish the tears. He can’t go back to words now, but he needs to finish somehow. His hand jerks, shoving itself into one of his pockets and yanking something out. He hesitates, then hands it to her shakily, as if scared to allow anyone else to handle something so precious.

Vanya takes the paper carefully, smoothing its worn creases in her hands. Her heart squeezes painfully at the photograph of a family smiling happily up at her. Nico’s mother was beautiful, and she can see where he gets a lot of his features. The same dark curls and eyes, the same pale skin and long, thin fingers. She wonders, as she stares at a tiny, unrecognizable Nico, if he would still have those same dimples if he smiled now.

His sister- she must be- looks only a few years older than him, and bears a similarly striking resemblance to their mother. However, there are obvious parts of her that are different, parts that are probably from the father that Nico despises so much. Her cheekbones are just a bit more angular, even beneath the baby fat, her shoulders just a little more square, the shape of her lips and the curl to her hair just different enough to catch your eye.

“That was- the last photo we took. It was her birthday.”

“They’re beautiful.” She says, because that’s the only thing she can say. 

“Were.” He sniffles, picking at the hem of his sweater sleeve. He uses it to roughly rub at his tear-swollen eyes, making them even puffier. “Til he collapsed a roof on my mother and had his son set my sister’s camp cabin on fire.” 

“What were their names?”

It takes him a minute. “Maria and Bianca,” he whispers, voice cracking. It’s been a long time since he’s said their names out loud. “When I was little, I couldn’t pronounce Bianca, so I’d call her Bibi.” He lets out a dry, wry little chuckle. “She was three years older. Never let me forget it, either.”

Vanya giggles, and a corner of Nico’s lips twitch upwards slightly. “Sounds kind of like one of my brothers. We’re all the same age, but he never let me forget he was taller than me. Only three inches, but apparently that’s the same as three feet.” Nico snorts.

“Sounds insufferable,” he mutters.

“Yeah, he was,” she agrees. “But he was also my favorite.”

“So why’d you leave?” 

Her smile falters. “Because _he_ did.” At Nico’s curious look, she elaborates. It’s only fair. “He had a fight with our dad. He wanted to time travel- yeah, I know- and Dad wouldn’t let him. So he stormed out during breakfast, and I never saw him again. A year later and Dad never even filed a missing person’s report. He just hung a portrait on the wall and told us we’d go missing too if we didn’t listen.”

“Your dad’s a piece of shit.” The flat delivery of such a blunt statement forces a laugh out of her.

“Yeah, he is. He’s the worst person I know.”

“Is he your grudge?” He asks carefully. He’s finally looking at her now, not just out of the corner of his red-rimmed eyes.

“Yeah. I’m gonna go after him, one day. Just- not now.” Vanya doesn’t think she’s ready, doesn’t know if she ever will be. Nico seems to understand, if only a little.

“You deserve it. He sucks.”

She giggles again. “Thanks.”

There’s a momentary silence, but it’s comfortable this time. “Are you gonna look for him? Your brother, I mean,” He adds. 

“I- I don’t know.” She honestly didn’t think of that until now. Is that selfish of her? “I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I mean- it’s been a year. He could be anywhere.” He could be dead. She doesn’t say it, but they can feel it hanging in the air around them. 

“Couldn’t hurt to try, right?” He shrugs. “Or at least, it beats never knowing, and always wondering what it’d be like if you _did_ try.” She rolls the idea around in her head for a moment.

“Would you help me, then?”

“Where else would you get the resources to look?” Clearly, he knows quite well that he’s currently the main source of their income and possibly other resources and isn’t afraid to mention it. Vanya finds it funny, though, since it’s not out of pride or a higher sense of self, but a plain candidness that she’s beginning to think is something inherent in Nico.

“True. Then, I’ll do that. I suppose a trail of lights and sandwiches would be a bit too unrealistic now, huh?” She jokes without thinking. He raises a brow, and she flushes, realizing she’ll actually have to explain that one.

Vanya ducks her head. “Before I left, I used to keep the lights on and make fluffer nutters and leave them out, just in case he came back. I- I was worried he’d come home and it’d be dark and he’d be hungry and lost, and he’d leave again. I just thought- maybe, maybe he’d know, maybe it’d draw him back home. Or something. It’s- it’s stupid.” There's a silence that hangs between them. She can feel his gaze on her, almost burning into her skull.

“When I lost... my sister... I used to sneak into her room and curl up on the floor and sleep there. The room still smelled like her. I wanted to sleep in her bed, because it had the strongest smell, but I was scared that if I did that, it would stop smelling like her. I thought- if I lost that, the last trace of her that I had, then it’d be like- she’d really, finally died.” When she raises her head, she sees he’s smiling, but it’s a sad, bitter smile. His eyes are trained on his hands. 

“I even used to carry some of her stuff around, when I thought I could get away with it. She had this awful, giant floppy hat she used to wear everywhere. It didn’t go with any of her clothes, but she wore it anyways, even when it didn’t make sense. And I’d just hold it, because it was too big for a bag or for my head, and I’d press it to my chest and pretend that I was just holding it for her and she’d be back soon. I’d even- God, I even used to wear her sweater, but only one, because I didn’t want them all to lose her smell, or be ruined.” He wrinkles his nose.

“It’s so embarrassing to admit, but- but that’s just the way it is, right? Can’t let go. They’re our siblings. We love them more than anything, even- even when it maybe hurts us more. And if that’s what we have to do to make it hurt less- why shouldn’t we?”

Vanya’s chest feels warm, and she decides that maybe, definitely, just a bit- maybe Nico can actually be really, really nice. “We were all forced to wear uniforms, so there really wasn’t a point to me wearing his blazer.” 

“Have I mentioned that your dad is a shitbag yet?” 

She laughs. “That might have come up.”

“Good, because I mean it.”

“Yeah. Well, like I said, not much that I could take to cope. But I do have one thing. When we were real little, our dad gave us all teddy bears. Pretty much the only thing he gave us other than trauma and sometimes food. And- well, Five always said he didn’t need his, but I found it when I was in his room, stuffed in his mattress.” She pulls it out from under her pillow. It’s a ratty, worn thing from years of loving, but it’s clean and cared for. “It beat the news clippings of him. They’re too- impersonal. They didn’t know him. It wasn’t him, the real him.” 

He shifts, crossing his legs and getting more comfortable. “No one will ever see that, not more than you. You’re family. The kind of family that matters, not the one on paper or just blood.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

* * *

As soon as Vanya flounces into the room the next morning with a sunny smile on her face, Kali knows they’re not going to be leaving. She sighs. Goddammit.

“Someone’s in a good mood today,” she comments. Vanya smiles wider.

“I am.” She confirms. “Nico and I had a nice, long talk last night. He apologized and we smoothed things over. I think we’ve gotten a lot closer.”

Kali sighs, putting down the butter knife. She supposes this means she has to unpack. “Did he actually apologize, or did he just kind of say ‘oops’ and you forgave him?” Vanya gives Kali a _look._

“He apologized,” she insists, “quite formally, might I add. It took him a bit, but that’s probably because he has a hard time opening up.” She slides into her seat and begins to pile food onto her plate. Kali snorts.

“And I suppose you’re an expert on him now?”

“No, but we had a lovely and in-depth conversation about our pasts, and he actually smiled at me. More than once.” She shovels some scrambled eggs into her mouth. “I think you should ask him if you want to know what he said, but basically his motivations are very strong and sincere and was actually part of the reason why he was so impatient and snapped. Now that we’ve found some common ground, I believe we don’t have to worry about him.”

“Okay.” Vanya blinks in surprise. Despite her confident words, she genuinely expected more resistance from her friend. Kali seems to pick up on this, and snorts. “What, you think I’ve finally lost it or something? Look, even though I don’t trust him, I trust _you._ Bat-shit insane as you are, I trust you enough to handle your problems and shit. If you think he’s not that bad, then fine. I’ll give him another chance.” The older girl still sounds a bit reluctant but sincere, and Vanya smiles. 

“Thanks.”

* * *

Nico turns when he hears someone clear their throat behind him. He’s surprised by the sight of Kali, who is leaning against the door frame like she’s always been there. He shrinks back, fidgeting with the hems of his sleeves. Vanya might’ve said that Kali would come around, but Nico isn’t so sure.

If there’s one thing he picked up in their short time together, it’s that Kali is the protective type, most especially where Vanya is concerned. Perhaps it’s because she’s the oldest, or because Vanya’s kind of reckless, or something else entirely. But Nico doesn’t really want to find out.

“Uh,” he says. He tugs the sleeves over his hands when he notices her staring at the bandages on his palm. She sighs.

“Don’t worry. I’m not here to pick a fight. I… wanted to say sorry. About what I said earlier.” She grimaces, seeing the utter surprise on Nico’s face. “I’m not taking back my defense of Vanya. What you said was definitely out of line and I’ll stand by that any day. But I shouldn’t have said… the other stuff. I don’t know what’s up with you, but Vanya basically told me you guys made up. And that- my words were probably… too much. So... sorry.”

While Vanya hadn’t explicitly told Kali she went a little too far, her firm insistence that Nico’s motivations were serious and that he isn’t as bad as she’d expected made Kali come to the conclusion that her words would’ve probably stung quite a lot.

Especially when running those moments through her head, and remembering what he’d said yesterday while they were fighting. ‘ _He killed them! He fucking killed them! He killed them, he killed them, he-’_

“Thanks,” Nico murmurs. “Um. I’m sorry, too.” Kali waves off the apology flippantly.

“You didn’t say shit about me. I’m not the one who needs to be apologized to; that’s Vanya, and you already did that, so. We can just move on now, yeah?”

Nico nods, still watching her warily. “Still, you’re not curious? You said Vanya hasn’t told you anything.”

Kali shrugs. “Yeah, well. I don’t need to know the details. Not yet, at least. All I needed to know was that you weren’t just being a petty little ass. I’ll… trust you.” She grudgingly says. “For now. Because Vanya does. But mark my words, you pull some shit like that on us again and I’ll fucking fight you.”

This brings a wry smile to his face. “Wouldn’t want it any other way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My little moody emo boy just out here pushing so many character development arcs huh  
> Don't worry it won't all be drama, but it's nice to have some character-driven moments sometimes :) Teamwork can itch your insides


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)

“What the fuck,” Kali deadpans.

“This is necessary,” Nico insists. “Or we can’t do shit else.”

“What the fuck,” she repeats.

“Maybe it won’t be so bad,” Vanya says hopefully.

“What the fuck.”

“I know you probably haven’t read in a while, but it can’t be that bad.” Vanya gapes, worried that Kali will attack Nico for the words he so flatly delivered. Instead, Kali swats him on the shoulder.

“Listen here you little shit, I know I signed up for murder but I did not sign up to do any fucking homework.”

Nico sighs, handing her the box again. “C’mon, it’s not that bad. It’s just research. And besides, if we don’t do this, we’re not gonna get anywhere. You guys don’t even know their names or locations. Or even how many of them there are.” He jabs the lid of the box with a long, bony finger. “This is how you find out.”

“Can’t you just get your minions to do it? You’re rich. Just hire someone.” Even as she says it, Kali knows he’s right. She just hates the mountains of paper around them with a burning passion.

Nico rolls his eyes. “Oh, yeah, and create a bunch of loose ends who know what we’re up to while we’re at it. C’mon, Kali. You know I’m right.”

She frowns. “Fuck you.”

“No thanks.” Kali fucking swears she sees a smug little smirk on the bastard’s face, and she’d slap the shit out of it if she didn’t know he’d probably make her pay rent for it.

“I’ll organize the board, then!” Turns out Kali didn’t need to lift a finger to get what she wanted, as Vanya snatches up the bin of supplies from Nico’s hands, ultimately wiping the smile right off his face. Revenge is sweet, even if incidental.

“Uh, I guess that leaves you.” Nico turns to Six, who is staring at him from her perch on the chair, just as she has for the last two hours. “Is- is there- something you want to do...?” Vanya fights the laughter that comes up at Six’s persisting silence. Finally, the girl signs something. Nico clears his throat and glances around, begging for help with his eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t- uh.” 

Finally, Kali deigns to put him out of his misery. “She’s asking what you want her to do.” They really have to work on teaching him sign language. Sure, it’s funny now, but it’ll be extremely inconvenient- if not dangerous- during potential hits.

“Oh. I dunno. You’re still working on reading, right? So, I guess you can just… work on that? Reading and writing? Does that sound good?” After all, Vanya told him before that Six is only at roughly the first grade level of reading, and is even more abysmal at writing. He doesn’t even want to know what put her in the place she is today.

Six nods, then climbs off the chair to get the blank papers and crayons. Nico turns to Kali. “Right. Well, in the meantime, I’ll help you research, since you’re apparently illiterate.” Kali throws her pen at him. He bats it away with a shadow, only to find it’s an illusion.

“We gotta teach you sign language soon,” she remarks absently. “But until then I’ll keep shit-talking you with Six behind your back.”

“Oh, can’t wait.”

* * *

“Is this- is this normal?” Nico asks. Six has been staring at him for the past thirty minutes. He’s not even sure if she’s blinking, but that’s mostly because her hood is still up. She’s been sitting across from him as still as a statue, and Nico honestly thought she was sleeping sitting up or something until he tried to pick up one of her crayons and she hissed at him.

“What? Oh,” Vanya’s distracted by her work, not even fazed by what is clearly Six trying to open up his insides just by looking at him. “Don’t worry. That’s pretty normal, I think.”

“You _think?”_ Nico squeaks. Six is still staring at him.

“Yeah, she’s just trying to get used to you. Don’t worry, she probably won’t eat you.”

Nico becomes visibly more worried.

“Uh, anyway, I’ve found something kind of interesting.” He slides the papers over to Kali, pointing at the parts he highlighted. “You recognize this?” She looks, and is immediately overwhelmed with blinding rage at the sight. She snatches the paper up, hands shaking.

“Where did you find this?” Her eyes never leave the image, burning the words MK ULTRA into her mind, gluing her gaze into the bastard’s damn face as if to set it on fire from sheer will. 

“Old newspapers. You said you used to live somewhere in Indiana, right? Well, I checked some of their records, and I found a lot of stuff on mysterious disappearances of kids and a few documents on some experiment some crackpots were doing back in the 80s. I think they shut it down, but it says the same guy who ran the first experiment now works in some type of energy lab.” He points towards certain areas on the papers. “See, there’s actually a few of these labs in Indiana, and they’re listed as ‘energy labs’ and shit, but none of their stuff really checks out. It’s obvious from the outside that there’s more room than is labelled or shown, and most of them aren’t even producing or publishing anything that can be found on public record.” He bites his lip. “And then… well, then there’s also the fact that they’re apparently government labs.”

But Kali isn’t even listening anymore. “It’s him,” she whispers. “That bastard. That fucking bastard. It’s him.” She slams the news clipping onto the table. “This motherfucking piece of shit- he made my life a living fucking hell. It’s his fault- him- that bastard-” She wants to hit something, so she does, punching the table. It hurts her knuckles, but she doesn’t even flinch. All she can think of are those soulless eyes, peering back at her, that calm, cold voice telling her to _listen to Papa, listen, number eight, listen-_

She stands and storms away, unable to look any longer, the ghost of electricity skittering over her skin, stealing her breath, digging into her ribs like she can’t ever escape-

“Where is he,” she whispers. “Do you know?”

“Last records say, he’s still in Indiana, working at the Hawkins Energy Lab. No information on where he lives.” Nico eyes her carefully, as do the girls, Kali can tell, even without looking at them. They’re worried, and Kali doesn’t even know if she could muster the energy to reassure them that she’s fine- probably because she isn’t.

She takes a deep, shuddering breath, then returns to the table. She appreciates that none of them ask if she’s alright, with the girls slowly returning to their own work and Nico observing her quietly. Without looking, she turns the newspaper over to hide the image before she retakes her seat.

“So… target number one?” Nico asks. Kali purses her lips.

“I- don’t know,” she admits. “I- I need to- he has to- die. He has to die. I just...”

“You aren’t ready,” Nico finishes. Despite the direct nature of his words, they are anything but condescending or judgemental. When she meets his gaze, there is nothing but understanding. “Then we’ll go after others. I’ve found a few that I’d like you to confirm.” Kali nods, face burning with shame. She quietly takes the stack of files to sort through for herself.

* * *

After they compile a list, they take a break for lunch. Kali eats in silence. Her mind is somewhere else, with some _one_ else, and it’s obvious to her friends. 

She’s not ready. The fact angers her, fills her with fury hot enough to set her blood on fire. What other point is there than to kill the man at the center of it all, the one who ruined her life? If she is so weak that she can’t even bring herself to confront the bastard, then what is this all for? 

The others have reassured her that it’s fine- that it doesn’t matter that she isn’t ready, that they would all confront their Hated People in their own time- after all, Vanya herself isn’t even sure about when or if she’ll ever kill Reginald. But Kali is the one who came up with this idea. Kali is the one who took her rage and decided to direct it at something in the hopes that it’d set her free. Kali is the one who chose this path, and Vanya is the one who agreed to walk it with her.

Maybe it would be fine, if this was anyone else. But it isn’t, and now Kali doesn’t know what to do with herself. She can’t be okay with letting him live, can’t be okay with not confronting him- or at least actively planning to confront him. But every time she even thinks about it, she just… goes cold. Numb, maybe. But when she doesn’t- when she thinks about leaving this be, she _burns._

Now that she knows he’s alive- knows where he is, knows that he’s still out there, doing whatever he likes as if he hasn’t ruined _lives_ \- there’s an itching, a scraping, a burning under her skin, an off-beat stab to the thud-thud-thudding in her heart that screams, _rages_ , telling her that she can’t let him live another day.

“I’ve got an idea.” She turns to Nico, barely listening.

“We’ve been working all day, stretching our brains or some shit. I think we should blow off some steam outside.”

“You sure that’ll help?” Because the last time they tried, they ended up nearly destroying their fragile alliance. Of course, Kali keeps that part to herself, but the pout Vanya gives her tells her she they know exactly what she means.

Nico remains unfazed. “Yeah, because this time we’ve reached an understanding. And also, we’ll be doing something different. We need to expand our powers, sure, that won’t mean anything if we can’t use them in a fight. You never know, we might end up running into another 43 one day.” He cracks a small, somewhat sinister grin. “We’re gonna spar.”

* * *

“But I don’t wanna fight my friends,” Vanya whines. “Isn’t the point of friendship to not fight?”

“This is practice, Vanya,” Nico repeats patiently. “We have to do this so we understand each other and ourselves better. It’ll help our teamwork, I promise.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” This satisfies Vanya, who sighs but generally seems a bit more cheerful. “Now, obviously, we’re going to need some rules to keep us from, like, killing each other by accident or something. So, no hits to the head or face area. No choking, which should be a given, but y’know. Stuff happens. All weapons must be blunted in some way.” He pulls out his knife, to demonstrate. “For me, I’ll just keep this in it’s sheath. A gun obviously can’t be used here.” Kali rolls her eyes.

“Also, probably don’t use your full force when you’re hitting. We don’t really have padding right now, so it won’t do us any good to bruise each other up or break any bones because you punched too hard. Sound good?” He looks around, and nods when he’s met without resistance. “Cool. So how are we teaming up?”

Vanya raises her hand like she’s in class. “Oh! We should go at it like a tournament! If we only have four people, but we can fight in pairs, and then the winners fight each other and the losers fight each other!” It’s actually a tactic that the Academy uses when they spar with each other. “I don’t know how we’ll organize the first two pairs though… Oh! I call Kali!”

“Wait, Six, are you even participating?” They all turn to Six, who is in the middle of staring down a squirrel. She twitches and looks up. 

_Dangerous,_ she signs. _I only kill._

“Uh?” Nico looks at the girls for guidance.

“She says it’s too dangerous,” Vanya explains. “Which makes sense. Her powers are a bit… unhinged.” Nico raises a brow.

“Well, she can just focus on hand-to-hand, right? I mean, we all kind of have to do that. It’s not like you can always blast people, and Kali has to get creative with her illusions already anyway.”

“Six doesn’t like physical contact though…” Vanya turns back to Six. “Would you be okay with trying just hand-to-hand? You won’t have to use any powers.” 

Six tilts her head. _Dangerous,_ she repeats. After all, even if it’s just for practice, Six has never been the controlled type. Chaotic, frenzied tearing of flesh is really the only kind of fighting she’s capable of, the kind in which she’s the only one left standing in the end. She can’t guarantee that she can keep the Hunger in check, even for a friend.

“Okay, then how about instead of a sparring match, you can practice some basic forms? If all else fails, you’ll at least be able to throw a solid punch. We could get a pillow or something and hang it from that tree, and you can just practice punching and kicking and stuff.” Nico offers. 

Six contemplates it, then shrugs. It might take a while, though. These hands are used to reaching out and _clawing, grappling, tearing,_ not balling up and socking someone in the jaw. But it might help to learn a few things, just in case.

“I guess that’ll be me, then,” Kali says, strolling towards the nearest housekeeper to ask for a pillow and some rope. “I’m not formally trained or anything, but I guarantee I’ve got a better right hook than either of you combined.” Instead of being offended, Vanya smiles.

“That’s true. You’ve got a pretty good one. She K.O.’d a guy with a single punch, once!” Despite it literally being about a different person, Vanya still says this as proudly as one would if they were boasting about their own skill.

“Then, I guess that leaves us two. Loser helps Six with her basics and the winner spars with Kali.”

It’s only when he says that that Vanya realizes the same thing, and frowns. She doesn’t think Nico will hurt her, but… she’s kind of scared to fight him. Or anyone, really, but mostly him. She isn’t fully used to him yet, and isn’t sure of what to expect.

“Okay, how about we start with our abilities first and then move on to hand-to-hand? That way, we might not get tired as quickly.” Vanya agrees. “Alright. Ready when you are.”

As soon as Vanya nods and closes her eyes, she yelps. A cold, wiry hand wraps itself around her ankle and _yanks,_ sending her tumbling backwards. She only cracks her eyes open when she realizes she isn’t falling, and sees that a shadow is wrapped around her waist, keeping her suspended. The skeleton hand that grabbed her retreats back into the ground, leaving nothing but a disturbed little patch of upturned soil.

“What? That’s not fair!”

Nico shrugs. “Fights aren’t fair. Especially when you’re trying to kill each other. Your enemy isn’t going to wait for you to center yourself, Vanya.”

“Well then, how am I supposed to get better?”

“Well, maybe by not giving you time to meditate or whatever, you’ll learn to reach out to your powers on instinct and not from a step-by-step ritual.”

“That doesn’t make sense. I can’t select a sound to focus on out of nowhere. I have to sort one out and pull on it. That takes time.”

“And maybe it shouldn’t have to. There will be times where you can’t find a sound to pick out, or won’t have the time to sit down and do it. You’ll need to figure out a way around it. Find a sound that never leaves. You’ve got sensitive hearing, right? Maybe there’s a sound the world is making that we can’t hear. Or maybe there’s a way for you to just draw on all sounds instead of just one at a time. I don’t know. You’re the only one with your abilities. It's nice because it's unique, but the cost is that you gotta figure it all out yourself.” 

“Huh,” Vanya blinks. “That’s actually… really helpful. Thanks.”

“Yup. Anytime.” With this nugget of wisdom delivered, Nico shifts his stance. “Alright. I’m going again.”

“Hey, wait-!”

Meanwhile, with Kali and Six, the older girl has been teaching Six how to punch. It’s pretty easy, so she picks it up before long, but it’s still a struggle for her to remember _clench,_ don’t _claw._ She’s still expecting to swipe at the pillow with her nails instead of jabbing it in the gut, but is otherwise completely okay.

“Awesome,” Kali praises. “Now, let’s try a kick. Kick as high as you can without hurting yourself.”

After a series of awkward, unbalanced kicks to the pillow, Kali allows Six to take a break. They spend it staring at Vanya and Nico, watching Vanya whine and groan and yelp whenever Nico gets the jump on her and either trips or traps her (which is very often). It’s lighthearted though, and she can see them joking around and laughing (or in Nico’s case, snorts and wry little twitches of his lips).

“What do you think about him?” Kali asks, eyes also on the pair.

 _Strong,_ she signs. 

“But?”

 _But,_ Six continues, _not a master. He hesitates. Does not go in for kill._

“He killed that one guy,” Kali points out.

 _He hesitates._ Six insists. _Eyes… are not hungry._

They don’t say anything else, opting to watch the two spar some more.

The match only ends when Vanya finally surprises Nico by getting frustrated and blasting the skeletons away. The bones knock into Nico, who isn’t expecting to be smacked by his own little undead army, and he tumbles to the ground with a squawk.

“Finally!” Vanya crows. Nico is too surprised to say anything at first. Sure, he knows Vanya has a lot of potential, but he honestly wasn’t expecting her to show much progress on their first day. Not because he thinks himself superior- but he has been training on his own for years now, exploring and utilizing his abilities to their limits and beyond.

“You did it,” Nico says, snapping himself out of his stupor. “You managed to actually land a hit. Y’know, after I already did a million times.” Vanya rolls her eyes and swats his shoulder.

“Don’t ruin my moment!” She gives him her hand, helping him up. “I did a cool thing.”

“You did.” The genuine response makes her eyes widen. “I’m not bragging or anything, but I’ve been training by myself for years now. I’d like to say I’m pretty competent, at least. I’m no expert, but since you said you only learned you have powers, like, a few months ago, I’d say you’re pretty fucking good.”

Vanya flushes, never having gotten used to praise. “Thanks.” She dips her head a little. Nico punches her shoulder lightly, and she grins.

“Now that you’ve made progress, we can take a break. Then we’ll move on to hand-to-hand and I’ll kick your ass again for an hour.” Nico practically radiates smugness as Vanya groans.

* * *

Once Vanya finally manages to knee Nico in his side, they trade partners. Vanya drags herself over to Six, as Kali and Nico size each other up. Unlike his dagger skills, Nico’s hand-to-hand is actually largely unprofessionally learned, much like Kali. His skill with shadows and shambling corpses, while easier to directly apply in a fight, is also limited in ways that are both similar and different than Kali’s.

Whereas Kali has to get more creative in what she brings into reality, Nico has to get more creative in how to utilize any access to shadows and skeletons he has. Sometimes it’s too bright out to effectively use shadows. Sometimes his opponent is too far away, or too fast. Skeletons could help in that area, but they’re also rather slow and easy to break. They make up for their fragility by being persistent and quick to reassemble, especially the ones that still have flesh on them- can’t kill what’s dead, and it’s hard to dismember a moving body, especially in only a few hits.

Still, none of it will matter if Kali can outsmart him. Which seems to be the plan, since as soon as they start she turns herself invisible and kicks him in the back. Nico’s not even sure how she got behind him, just that this is definitely going to be fun.

He suffers more blows, from a gut punch to a silly pinch on the shoulder, before surrounding himself with skeletons. He strikes as soon as one of them falls, hearing a shout and immediately wincing when he realizes he connected with something a little too hard.

“That was my nose, dumbass!” Kali yells. Nico shrugs.

“Can’t expect me to aim right when you’re literally invisible,” he points out, and besides a few seconds of grumbling, Kali gets back into the fight. One would think that despite being invisible, she would still give herself away through her movements. Grass and leaves crunching beneath her feet with each step, the whistling of wind as she swings at him. But Kali is surprisingly nimble and quiet, at least enough to keep Nico from hearing her.

Perhaps it’s because it’s kind of windy today, or because she can, on some level, create auditory hallucinations as well. Or maybe she’s really just that skilled. Either way, it’s a much more difficult fight than Nico anticipated, and he’s never been more thrilled.

Out of sheer luck he blocks a blow that turns out to be a kick, and as he looks down he finds his ticket to victory. While Kali has made her whole body appear invisible, she did not, as it happens, include her shadow. Nico reaches his powers out and pulls, Kali’s own shadow jumping out to snatch her up and drag her to the ground. 

“Shit!” The sound’s like music to his ears, but then there’s a knife flying right at him and he dodges-

Only for the blade to dissolve into thin air. 

By the time he turns around Kali trips him and tries to pin him, only for Nico to melt into the shadows beneath him and reappear behind her, lassoing her waist- but she’s not there, instead slamming her shoulder into his side out of nowhere. The shadow swings wildly towards the direction she was last in and manages to connect just as she’s running away, surprising her into dropping the illusion as it smacks her into the ground just as Nico lands on his side.

They both lay in the grass, out of breath, as Vanya excitedly applauds them. “That was so cool!” She exclaims, running over to them. “When you went invisible- and then the shadows- and the kick, that was so smart- and the lasso-” Neither of them are really listening though, drained of energy as they are, though Kali makes sure to give Vanya a genuine, albeit tired, smile.

When Kali musters the energy to sit up, she looks over at Nico, who is curled up into a ball a little way’s away, as if preparing to sleep right in the fucking dirt. And really, he might be. Lord knows what kind of crazies they’ve been picking up. “Hey.” She calls. He grunts. “That was a good one.” Nico rolls over to face her.

“Yeah. You were pretty good.”

“You weren’t too bad yourself.” They fist bump, not possessing enough energy or willpower within themselves to fuel a high-five. “Wanna go again some time?” There’s a delay, Nico’s mind probably shutting down from exhaustion. He has, after all, been researching and now fighting all day.

Finally, he nods. “Yeah,” he mutters, “‘s good… stress relief…” And, yeah, he’s definitely fallen asleep right in the fucking grass. Weirdo. 

Kali flops back onto the ground too, and dozes off.

* * *

“Y’know what? Fuck this.” Vanya jolts, looking at Kali with mild concern. 

“Is there something wrong with how I did your hair?”

“What? No. That’s not what I meant- I mean, fuck this.” She gestures wildly to the air, and Vanya only looks more confused. “I want to go after him. Brenner.” She spits. “That bastard. Now. I want to watch that fucker bleed.” She turns to Nico.

“Is there any way for us to bump up the schedule? I know Brian Colton is closer, but I need him dead yesterday. Is there any way for us to slide him in first?” Nico shrugs from where he lays upside down on Vanya’s bed. 

“Sure. We’ll have to drive or go by train, though. We don’t have pilots on-hand right now. Or, y’know. We could shadow travel. I might pass out though.”

“How far can you take us without passing out?” Kali asks.

Nico shrugs. “I don’t know. I haven’t really taken people with me before, let alone three cross-country. Probably a few thousand miles, give or take. I landed in China once on my own and was only tired.” Kali nods.

“Alright. Then you can practice shadow travel by taking us, say, into another state and then taking a break. We’ll just keep jumping state-to-state until we get there. I don’t think trains or cars will be fast enough to get us there without a mind-numbing road trip, so,” she shrugs, “plus it’ll probably help keep us out of traffic cams and shit.”

“‘Kay. Then I guess that settles it. Do you wanna go after just Brenner, or his whole lab? It’s not like we know where he lives.”

“The lab. I want to destroy the whole lab.”

Nico nods. “Fair enough.” He pushes himself up. “Then tomorrow, we draw up plans.”

“Where are you going?” Vanya asks, which stops him at the door.

“Kitchen. Gotta stock up on energy. Gonna be a long trip.” And with that, he’s gone.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The game plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is basically just them planning and dicking around but Y'ALL I'll make u a deal, read at least the last half of the chapter for context and I'll upload the actual ✨battle✨ Chapter at the lab early, like this Saturday or Sunday instead of next Thursday. Deal?

The next day, they draw up plans as promised. Kali trudges into the room clutching her mug of coffee like it’s the only thing keeping her alive. Vanya prances in after, as if she’s the one who made the sun shine, and Six slinks in behind her. Nico’s already there, waltzing out of the shadows with a muffin in one hand and a marker in another.

“Alright, so Hawkins, Indiana. We want to get there by the end of the week. We need to make a list of supplies: weapons, tools, disguises, et cetera, and a route we’ll take.” Nico scribbles this all down on their planning board, taking a large bite of his muffin. Kali grunts.

“Oooh, can we cut through here, and then go here on the way back? That way we could take this guy down while we’re at it, too.” Vanya takes another marker and draws the lines to indicate her idea. Nico hums. 

“Kill two birds with one stone, huh? Alright.” Nico turns to Kali and Six. “What do you guys think?”

Kali grunts. Six shrugs. “Perfect!” Vanya exclaims. “Now that that’s settled, we can move onto the game plan.” She pulls up the blueprint of the inside of the lab. “This is the entrance, right? Where is Brenner supposed to be?”

“Dunno, actually. There are a lot of stuff they keep either really really secret or completely undocumented. I don’t even know what he does there. He’s just kind of listed as a director.” He scratches the back of his head. “Y’know what? Maybe we don’t need to know where he is. If we play this right, he’ll come to us.”

“How do you figure?”

Nico circles certain areas as he talks. “See, this is the main entrance. It’s going to be super heavily guarded, but it would also gain a lot of attention if there’s a direct breach from the front. But, that’s not going to work. We’re strong, but not bulletproof. Even _you_ might not be able to redirect all the bullets with your energy. At most it would just be a temporary stand-off. However, if we were to go through the sides, like here or through here, we’d probably be able to make it. It’d take work, and be very dangerous and time-consuming, but it’s the safest bet we have.

“What would make things probably easier, though, is if we did both. Someone to distract at the entrance, while the rest file in through the side. It’ll need perfect timing and we’ll probably need something to help us all communicate until we meet up again, but it’s a better bet than just picking a single entrance.”

Vanya hums. “Okay, but why don’t I just… I don’t know, come from the side and blow everything up?”

Nico raises a brow. “Outside of the fact that it would alert literally the entire lab immediately and in turn the local law enforcement, do you think you’d be able to pull it off in time? Their eyes are peeled and they have guns. Are you sure you’d be able to react fast enough?” 

Vanya frowns. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s a small town, so blowing things up will definitely attract attention from _everyone._ By the time authorities come by, we probably won’t even be halfway done.”

“Exactly. And this one will take time, trust me. Probably even the whole night. Not just to make sure no one survives or escapes, but also to cover our tracks. If we blow anything up, it’ll have to be at the end, when we’re absolutely sure we’re all done.”

“Okay, then once we get onto the property, we’ll need a way into the actual lab. What then?”

“This is where Kali comes in. See, I figure the teams would be split. I’d distract at the entrance, you, Kali, and Six will sneak in using Kali’s illusions to get onto the property and into the lab. Either as guards, or following someone invisibly. It depends on what’s better for Kali.” He turns to ask just that, and the girl in question takes another slow sip.

“It’ll probably be better to go invisible. The bigger the illusion the more difficult, and people’s faces are really hard to get right, with all the details and stuff. I’d probably be able to manage on my own, but keeping three faces in mind the whole time is a little too much, even for me.” They nod.

“Then invisible it is.”

“Do you have to do it alone, though?” Vanya turns to Nico in worry. “You said before that they’ll be armed. What if they shoot you?”

“I won’t be out there long. Just enough for you to be able to get in, maybe steal a key card or two. And besides, you’ll probably need to be in there will Kali, just in case you guys _do_ get caught. No offense, but your powers are a bit, ah, _flashy._ They’ll be better used inside than out there.”

Vanya huffs but doesn’t disagree.

“How is this supposed to bring out Brenner, though? What if he runs instead?” Kali pipes up.

“This is where the plan gets a little more, ah, improvised. As director, chances are he’ll know just about everything going on in there. Hell, he might be in the control room watching the cameras. So he’ll see immediately that we’re there, and will have to decide what to tell his minions to do. But I’m hoping that we can get him- if not off his game- at least to handle things differently by- well, by _you._ This is probably when you’ll have to drop the illusion and show him you’re back. Call him out, if you have to. I don’t know him, so I can’t guarantee he won’t run, but I have a feeling that a guy like him didn’t get where he is by having other people handle his problems.” Nico’s eyes her cautiously, nibbling on his muffin.

Kali grips the mug harder, staring at the blueprints like they hold all the answers. She has to draw him out. She has to challenge him, get him to meet her on her terms. And- well, she isn’t sure how she’s supposed to react to this. This isn’t as heart-stopping as the thought of confronting him in and of itself, but the thought that _she_ could be the reason his plans change, that _she_ could throw him off his axis enough for him to take the bait… she wishes she knew if this was accurate, if this would work, but for someone whose whole life used to revolve around this man, whose life was _ruined_ by him, even, she sure knows a hell of a lot of _nothing_ about him.

“Is that all?” She aims for casual, apathetic perhaps, and knows she put too much effort behind it to be convincing. She scoffs, swigging her caffeine. “I’ll do it. And when he comes, I want him all to myself.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Vanya says quietly. Nico nods, trying to aim for reassuring.

“Alright, then the next thing we need to discuss is tools.” Nico breaks the silence, tacking a fresh piece of paper onto the board. “We’ll probably need to stay as light as possible, so we should only bring things we’re absolutely sure we’ll need, and at most one or two extra tools.”

“Bolt cutters,” Kali says instantly. “God, I wish I had bolt cutters when I escaped. Even if we take the sewers, if they’ve done any repairs since I’ve left- which they definitely did- we’ll need some of those.” Nico writes it down.

“Communicators, for when we’ve split up. I think I can get some that can work pretty long-distance.” He taps his chin with the marker. “Probably some kind of explosives too,” he adds, “for when we finish. Something small, maybe like a linked set of bombs that we can station around the different wings and detonate at the same time. Or we can go more simple, like just throwing a stick of dynamite at the thing, but chances are it won’t burn everything in time so we’ll need to set it off in a strategic place. Like the security room.”

“How fast can you get either of those things?” Vanya asks.

“I can get them both before we go, but the dynamite would definitely be easier. The bombs are more reliable, but they’d also take up more space and would need more careful handling.”

“Which one is safer?”

Nico gives her a flat look. “They’re explosives. Neither of them are safe. But I guess the bombs, because we can be outside the building when we set them off as long as there’s a remote. If there’s a timer, we’d have to leave and make it a safe enough distance away before it goes boom. Same with the dynamite. Not an instant explosion, but definitely fast enough that I’ll probably have to shadow-travel all of us out of there to be safe.” 

“I say bombs. If you travel us out, you might not be able to take us back to base afterwards, and we’d have to walk. We could get caught.”

“Bombs it is, then. I’d have to make a few calls, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. As long as no one tells Hades.”

* * *

They discuss for a while longer, and finally create a full list. Vanya claps. “Okay! Next, disguises!” She looks giddy when she says this, and Kali groans. Nico leans closer to Kali.

“Should I be worried?” He stage-whispers.

“Yes.”

“C’mon, guys, I’m not _that_ bad!” She pouts. “Disguises are important!”

“Yeah, but you get a little too invested.” Kali snatches the granola bar Vanya’s been saving right off the table, shoving most of it into her mouth in one bite. “And it’s kind of ridiculous.”

“What kind of disguises have you guys been using?” Nico isn’t even sure if he should ask, but really, they’re _disguises_. That shouldn’t be more than, like, a hoodie and a ski mask, right? It’s not like they’re going all Pink Panther on this. How elaborate could they be?

“Just party city wigs and masks and stuff, nothing big,” Vanya reassures him.

“Yeah, but you’ve been talking about aliases and costumes ever since we started.” Kali’s dry remark makes the younger girl flush.

“It’s not a costume, it’s a disguise!” She insists. 

“Is that why you keep drawing them with Six?”

“They require thought!” At this point, if Vanya’s face gets any redder, Nico’s worried she’ll actually explode. “Plus, they’re cool! It wouldn’t hurt to have fun while we’re doing this, right?” Her desperate eyes make Nico inclined to give in and just agree, but he isn’t sure how they’re supposed to be having fun while committing murder.

“Um,” he says.

“Don’t scare the poor boy,” Kali chastises. “He’s 99% of our finances now. Make nice.”

Vanya raises a brow. “Oh, _now_ you wanna be nice to him?”

“Now that I know this place has a hot tub, yes.” Kali primly takes another bite of the granola bar. Vanya rolls her eyes.

“Uh, anyway, you were talking about disguises?”

“Yes!” She gets giddy again, and Nico leans away on instinct. “Okay, so I have a few ideas.” She whips out a notebook from one of the drawers and slaps it on the table. “I saw these masks a while ago, right? And they were, like, super cool! See, I was thinking we could do _themes-_ ”

Nico winces. “Uh, okay- Vanya? Listen, that’s- that’s great, but I really don’t think we need disguises. At least, not ones this detailed.” The girl’s smile freezes, and Nico squirms. “Like I said, I think this is great, but the point of this is for Brenner to know exactly who is here to kill him. I understand if you want to wear masks or hoods just in case we can’t destroy all the evidence, but y’know, we’re going to be killing and destroying everything anyway, so I don’t think there’ll be a point in a costume upgrade.”

She’s silent, and for a moment Nico thinks she might be mad, but then her smile widens. “You’re right, Nico! There’s no point in doing something like this right now.” Kali looks surprised but pleased at Vanya’s sudden change, but all is for naught as soon as she adds, “We should save something like this for later! Meanwhile, we should come up with code names!”

“For fuck’s sake.” Kali presses her head into her hands. Nico just looks too baffled to respond.

 _‘Code names?’_ Six signs.

“Yes, Six, code names!” Vanya crows. “We can’t just call each other by our names. What if there are survivors or recovered audio? If they hear us use our real names, they might be able to find us! We need aliases!”

“You have a point,” Kali admits grudgingly. Surely, it wouldn’t hurt to use some type of code, at least to keep their identities safe- she highly doubts there are that many runaway super-powered teenage girls named Vanya on the run, for example- so an alternate name might help, especially if they’re in a situation in which they can’t avoid calling to each other in the first place. Surely, they could use something like “A” or “B” to be done with, right? “So, I guess that means we have to come up with a code, yeah? Then do you have any ideas?”

The look on Vanya’s face makes her regret asking this almost immediately. “That’s actually in another part of my notebook!” She starts flipping through the pages frantically. “I’ve got all sorts of ideas. Nico, you might have to come up with your own, though, because I haven’t had enough time to think of much for you, sorry-”

“No, that’s fine,” Nico says as he watches her ramble, looking relieved as hell. Kali glares at him. Lucky bastard.

“Okay, okay! So i have a few, especially for Kali because we’ve been together longest- these are my favorite, though! What do you think of Magician? Y’see, because I was thinking of calling myself the Musician, because they kind of sound alike, like a duo- but then we got Six, and then Nico, and so I was thinking that didn’t really fit anymore- oh! I also have Illusion, and Mystic, and-”

“Can’t I just be A? Or, like, Eagle 1?”

Nico snorts, his hand flying to his mouth to stifle the sound. Vanya frowns. “No, Kali, that’s, like, really boring. And also, if you’re Eagle 1, who’s Eagle 2?”

“You?” She suggests, and Vanya looks even more put off.

“But- but that’s so plain,” She splutters, “there’s no fun or creativity or individuality in it at all!”

“Sure there is,” Kali insists. “1 and 2 are completely different numbers.”

This time Nico actually laughs, dipping his head in an attempt to hide it. He calms down, shaking his head. “You guys, this is- this is fucking ridiculous. We’re talking about creativity for our murder aliases.” His face goes dead serious, unfazed by Vanya's irritated expression. “Guess that means I can’t be Eagle 3?”

“Oh, come on! My names can’t be _that_ bad!”

“Okay, okay, then um, how about Purple? Uh, Purple- Knife? Like- like Red Skull and Green Lantern and all that, they just combine a random color and their weapon.” Vanya stares at her so blankly that Kali actually becomes uncomfortable. “What?” Kali asks defensively. Then kicks Nico’s shin because he won’t stop fucking laughing.

“Fear the Purple Knife,” he snickers.

“You will be Indigo,” Vanya says primly, and then moves on, perhaps in everyone’s best interest. She clears her throat. “Six, would you like an alias?” The girl in question shrugs. “I have quite a few ideas. Do you have any- _preferences_ for what kind?” Nico’s smirking again, the asshole, but Vanya ignores it. Six shakes her head.

“Alright. I’ll just read some of them out to you and you can tell me what you think fits best.” She definitely seems a lot more subdued after Kali’s lackluster input, and is trying a much calmer approach with the easily-startled Six. Nico is _still fucking laughing_ though, so she might just saddle him with the worst of her suggestions. “We have Canary, Yellow, Sunshine, Famine, Birdie, and Devourer,” Vanya says brightly. “They’re not very creative, but I’d like to say they’re pretty on-brand!”

Six shrugs. ‘ _All are okay._ ’

“Really? You don’t have any thoughts on them at all?” Vanya needles. Six thinks for a moment.

‘ _What is… F-A-M-Y-N?_ ’

“Famine,” Vanya corrects, showing Six the paper so she can see the proper spelling. “It’s like… hunger, but more extreme. Like, if you’re starving, you’re famished. Or if a place runs out of food, it’s called a famine.” Vanya actually came up with that name for Six back when they first met, so she isn’t so sure anymore if Six would really like the name. But the girl doesn’t seem to mind. Of course, none of them can really tell since they can’t see her face.

‘ _What is…_ ’ Six leans over to see the term again. ‘ _D-E-V-O-U-R-E-R?_ ’

“Someone who devours! So, like, you don’t just eat, you kind of stuff your face as fast as possible with as much food as possible, really aggressively. So you don’t just eat your food, you devour it!”

“Yellow, Sunshine, and even Canary kind of make sense, but why Birdie?” Kali interjects. 

“I dunno, it just kind of fits. Like, she wears all yellow like a canary, but also she’s just so small and tiny! Even her bones look kinda fragile, like a bird, and- and I don’t know, okay!” Vanya pouts. “Besides, Six should be asking me these questions, not you.” She sticks her tongue out at Kali. 

“You’re just upset because I proved that you’re a hypocrite.”

Vanya flushes. “Yellow isn’t uncreative because it’s her _color scheme._ She’s always wearing that yellow raincoat! But you almost never wear purple- or indigo either!”

“But it _is_ my favorite color. And you’re still a hypocrite.” Vanya decides to ignore Kali and her teasing. 

“So, which one do you like best?”

Six is still sort of staring off at nothing, hopefully mulling over the names. ‘ _What is B-I-R-D-I-E?_ ’ Kali sighs. Looks like they need to invest more time in her reading and writing.

“A birdie is a bird. It’s just a cuter way of saying it, y’know? Like calling a kitten a kitty, or a dog a doggy!”

‘ _Cuter?_ ’

“Yup! It’s much cuter.” Six taps her knee with a pointer finger in a rhythmless pattern. Eventually, she nods. 

‘ _Birdie,_ ’ she signs. Vanya’s practically glowing now.

“Yay! Okay, okay, so I’ll put you down as Birdie, and Kali is Indigo, so that means it’s Nico’s turn!” Which is exactly the moment that Nico falls into the shadows and disappears. 

“Cheater!” Kali yells after him, throwing the crumpled granola wrapper in right after him.

* * *

“So what do you think about Angel?” Nico shrieks and jumps back, hand flying to his chest.

“What the fuck,” he whispers. Vanya continues scribbling in her notebook.

“See, because your last name is Di Angelo, right? So then you’re literally ‘the Angel’, or ‘Nico the angel’ though I don’t know what Nico means, but-”

“That’s not how you use ‘di’ but also how did you know my last name?” 

“What? Oh, your butler called you Mr. Di Angelo when we first got here. What do you mean, that’s not how you use ‘di’?”

“And you remembered that?” Nico’s eyes bulge. Vanya huffs. 

“Yes, now what do you mean when you say I’m using ‘di’ wrong?”

“It means a lot of things, but it doesn’t literally translate to ‘the’. In the context of my full name, it’s actually ‘of’, since my last name technically means ‘of the angel’, but honestly my name means a lot of things and none of them really matter because I’m not going by ‘angel’.” 

“Well- then what does Nico mean? Unless you want to go by Shade?”

Nico wrinkles his nose. “Uh, okay no. I’m good, honestly. Also, the question you just asked is extremely long because my mom loved wordplay, but the shortest, most basic answer is ‘victory’.”

“Then-”

“No.”

“Well, you have to go by _something._ I highly doubt there are that many necromancer teenage boys named Nico out there, and it’s not worth the risk to go by your real name.”

“Well, honestly, I’m the only necromancer around so if anything using my powers at all is a dead giveaway.” Vanya’s frown makes him add, “but I _guess_ it would help, since I’m pretty sure the government doesn’t have my powers on-file. Well. They might, actually, but I don’t think the cops have access to that.”

“Okay, then it’s settled! You are now dubbed Victory.” Nico’s wince makes her slyly add, “unless you want to be Shadow-Wal-”

“Y’know what? Maybe Victory isn’t so bad,” he says quickly. Vanya smiles.

“I’m glad you see things my way.”

* * *

Vanya smiles all the way through dinner, thrilled to finally be a part of a team. Sure, they haven’t named the team (yet) but honestly she doesn’t even care. She’s just glad to have the one thing she’s always wanted. (Though she _will_ be giving them a team name).

“Are you really that thrilled over just some code names?” Nico asks. 

“Of course!” She chirps. “I love stuff like this! I’ve been trying to get Kali on board with this for ages! Now, we have Indigo, Birdie, and Victory! Everyone’s on board!”

“Wait. What about you?” Kali asks.

“What?”

“What’s your alias?” Vanya’s smile is frozen on her face, and Kali slams her fork down.

“Are you telling me that you fought to give us aliases for three hours and you haven’t given yourself one yet?” Kali’s deadly calm voice makes Vanya giggle nervously.

“Yes?”

“Vanya I swear to fucking god.”

“Don’t you have any of your own in that notebook?” Nico asks.

“I do! It’s just… I dunno, I haven’t gotten around to picking one yet.” She caresses the notebook idly, which is for some reason still with her at the table.

“Gimme.” Nico holds out his hand.

“No!” Vanya presses it to her chest, but meets air. Her notebook pops out of the shadows right onto Nico’s lap. She gasps, utterly scandalized. “Meanie! Give it back!” Nico flips through the pages idly, then raises a brow.

“Maestro, huh?” Vanya turns beet red. “Oh, and Vendetta? Like the comic?”

“What comic?”

“Never mind. Because clearly there’s also Violin, which really isn’t creative, Vanya-”

“Shut _up!”_

Kali leans over with a shit-eating grin on her face, scanning the page. “Oh, and Musician! I remember you said that, too. Conquest?”

“I think it’s a horsemen of the apocalypse. Like famine.”

“What?”

“Real biblical shit. Spells doom.”

“Oh, we’re getting biblical?” Kali grins.

“You guys are the _worst!_ ” Vanya whines, leaping out of her seat to snatch her notebook back. Nico leans away, keeping the notebook just out of her reach.

“No, really, Vanya, this is _important-”_

“-We need to make sure it’s _creative!”_

“Guys!” Vanya groans. “This is embarrassing! Give it back!” She finally manages to yank it out of Nico’s hands, shoving it under her shirt this time for safekeeping.

“That doesn’t faze me, the shadows can’t feel!” He warns. Vanya blows a raspberry at him.

“I’ll get you in your sleep.”

“Joke’s on you, I don’t sleep!”

“Kids, no fighting at the dinner table.” Kali drones.

“Really, though, you should pick a name if you’re going to make us pick one.” Nico insists. Vanya huffs.

“I know, I know. But it’s so hard!”

“Well then, I guess we should pick it for you. After all, you picked ours. It’s only fair, isn’t it, Nico?” Kali says quite gravely.

“Oh absolutely. This is the only way.” Nico’s solemn nod makes Vanya scowl. 

“Don’t pick anything awful for me.”

“I’d _never.”_ Kali’s extremely unconvincing, since Vanya’s scowl only gets bigger. She and Nico whisper over the ideas they remember from the list, and even some of their own ideas, before turning back to Vanya. 

“The council is ready to speak.” Nico announces.

“Jesus Christ,” Vanya mutters.

“We’ve decided. Your new vigilante alias is,” Nico starts a drum roll, “Lilith.” Kali declares.

“But-”

“The council has spoken,” Nico insists.

“But why-”

“The council has spoken.” He repeats. “Really, I don’t see why you have any complaints. You called Six _Birdie_. Besides, you were doing that whole Horsemen of the apocalypse thing before, this is that biblical stuff that you like.”

Vanya rolls her eyes. It’s not because it’s biblical that she likes those names, but because they’re so famous. Even those that aren’t religious could potentially recognize who the four horsemen are (even if they don’t know the actual names). But she doesn’t bother arguing with them. It also helps that Lilith is actually a really cool name.

The originator of demons, depending on who you ask.

Lilith.

Vanya’s alright with that.

* * *

It’s nighttime when they set off, the darkness providing easier travels for Nico as he guides them through the shadows. “We have everything, right?” He asks, and after confirming they’re prepared, they all join hands. “This is gonna be uncomfortable first, so hold tight.”

Vanya shrieks as she falls into nothing. She’s freezing, shivering as nonexistent wind blows all around her. She can’t hear or see anything other than the screeches and howls of- _spirits?_ They sound too real, too anguished to be nothing more than the wind. 

It’s over almost as quickly as it starts, and before she knows it she’s tumbling out of the darkness and onto the floor, feeling as if she’s been spat out. She gasps for breath, head spinning like a dreidel.

“What the _fuck,”_ Kali wheezes out beside her. Vanya has no idea how Kali even has enough air or brain cells to speak right now, seeing as Vanya herself is seconds away from vomiting and doesn’t have the energy to even _think_ of forming words. 

“Told you, it’s pretty uncomfortable the first few times.”

“That’s a fucking understatement.” Kali mutters. Vanya would agree, but she’s too busy trying to keep her dinner in her stomach. Something pokes her cheek, and she cracks her eyes open. Six is squatting in front of her, poking her with an index finger. She seems to be the only one other than Nico to be unaffected by shadow travel. Vanya wonders idly what it’s like to be a demon.

“While you guys are hurling your dinner, I’m gonna take a nap. Let me know when you’re not dying.” Before he can saunter away, Vanya uses all of her strength to snatch his ankle with a death grip. She shoves a sign language book at him without a word, and he grumbles but takes the book with him anyway, leaving Vanya to curl back up like a pill bug.

Vanya and Kali end up sleeping on the concrete for two whole hours, during which Nico and Six are left to their own devices. Which is- not dangerous, per say, but probably not encouraged, in order to ensure the well-being of the general populace.

“So,” Nico says slowly. “What’s up?” He winces. Conversation has never been a strong suit of his, but it’s just him and Six now, and if he has to deal with their silent, intense stares again, he might just leave them here.

They sign something at him. “I don’t know what that means.” He scratches the back of his head. “Sorry.”

Six flips through the sign language book, pointing at the words they want to convey to him. ‘ _Want food. Hungry. It hurts._ ’ Which- okay, he doesn’t even want to know _what_ hurts, but he can definitely do something about the ‘hungry’ part. 

So the two of them go to McDonald’s and come back. The walk is unbearably quiet, which has never been a problem for Nico until now. Still, they’re his new roommate, for better or worse, and he knows it’ll be better for all of them if he can at least be reasonably sure they won’t kill him in his sleep. 

“So, what made you join Vanya and Kali?” He asks. Six tilts their head. They gesture towards their mouth with one hand in a move he’s now recognized as ‘food’. “Ah,” he says. “Hunger is a powerful motivator.” Six nods solemnly. “What about revenge? Don’t you have anyone you want to kill?”

They shake their head. They make more gestures, but Nico doesn’t recognize them, so Six just settles to make a neck-cutting motion with their hand. “They’re… already dead?” Nico guesses. Six nods. “Oh. Well, that’s nice.” They make it to McDonald’s, and Six points at the menu to tell him which ones they want. The duo buys half the menu, much to the bewilderment of the poor staff who are clearly half-asleep and ready to go home.

The pair leave with several bags in hand, ignoring the odd glances of passer-bys. As soon as they make it back, Six crouches, dropping all the bags and tearing into the food like it’s going to be taken from them at any moment. Nico would be disturbed if he wasn’t essentially doing the same thing, dropping everything on the nearby bench and eating his own share. 

Once they’re done with their food, it’s back to staring at Nico, who makes it a point not to look at them. They poke Nico until he gives them his attention and they point at words in the book again. ‘ _Thank you.’_

“Oh.” Nico flushes. “No problem.” Which is actually true. Maybe if he was anyone else it _would_ be a problem, seeing how much they ordered, but it isn’t a big deal for him. Six just nods, seemingly deciding something, and curls up under a tree.

Vanya jolts up, looking around in alarm. “Welcome back to the land of the living,” Nico says dryly. 

“Wha-? Where-?”

“I think we’re somewhere on the edge of Wyoming.” He shrugs. “I dunno. We should probably get a map later.” He stands, abandoning the pile of trash he and Six created, and stretches. “Ready to go?”

Vanya groans.

* * *

They arrive in Hawkins in the evening. It’s almost spring, so the night isn’t as cold as it used to be, but it’s definitely not t-shirt weather. No one looks twice at a couple of teenagers in hoods, though Six’s bright yellow raincoat _does_ attract some strange looks. It’s a blessing that they’ve timed it properly and arrived after sundown, since no one is able to make out their faces like this- which is crucial, in such a small town, as there’s barely any strangers here.

They stuffed all their supplies in backpacks, since it’s less suspicious than a duffel or suitcase. At around seven-thirty, they’re heading into the woods. By 8 o’clock, they’re only meters away from the lab, observing it through the foliage.

“Alright. You guys ready?” Kali whispers. They give the affirmative, and she nods. “ _Go._ ”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the confrontation!

It’s dark and quiet, just as it always is at night in Hawkins. The delivery men roll up with their last shipment of the night. They stop at the checkpoint, and the security guard yawns as he scans their cards. 

“Long night?” One of the delivery men asks. 

“Oh yeah. Double shift.” The men whistle sympathetically.

“Man, that bites.”

“Yeah, well. Nothin’ to do about it. Just wish shit wasn’t so boring here.”

The driver snorts. “It’s a good thing when you’ve got a quiet life, trust me.” 

“Wouldn’t hurt to have a little bit of excitement every now and then, though.” He allows them through, pressing the button to open the gates. “Have a nice one.”

“Thanks, you too.” The men enter the compound, and the security guard sighs, leaning back in his seat. He’s about to doze off when something moves in the corner of his eye. He leans forward, narrowing his eyes.

“Is someone there?” He asks. There’s no response, and the shadowy shape doesn’t move. He frowns, certain that it wasn’t there before. So then, what is it? “Hello?” He calls. The figure grows bigger, or rather, closer. “I’m going to need you to identify yourself. _Now.”_ The soldiers begin to take notice, a few of them shouting at it to halt and warning it that they’re armed. 

It doesn’t react, continuing to approach the gates. The guard frowns. “Freeze!” Eventually it gets too close, and the soldiers open fire. The mass doesn’t react, bullets seemingly never making contact. 

The shape morphs, stretching and expanding. Tentacle-like appendages jet out of it, flailing wildly. One of them smacks into a cargo truck and sends it flying into the trees. Another whips an entire line of soldiers into the concrete. They’re crushed like bugs, as is everything else caught by the shadows.

The security guard tumbles out of his booth, crawling backwards in the dirt. A tendril lashes out and drags the corpse next to him towards the main body, reeling it into the shadows until it’s gone completely. 

Then, just as reinforcements come, the figure vanishes. All that’s left is the wreckage, and a security guard with stained pants.

* * *

Nico arrives inside the building, appearing just behind a random ficus. He presses his earpiece. “I’m in. Where are you guys?”

The door swings open, revealing no one. Then Nico catches a glimpse of the shadows on the floor. “We’re here.” Vanya says. Out in the hall is absolute chaos. Sirens are going off, and people are running around like chickens without their heads.

“Ready?” Nico asks. He hears unzipping sounds.

“Duh.” It’s Kali this time, and she drops the illusion the same time that she empties a clip into the hallway. Vanya snatches a hammer and takes off with Six down the hall. 

Nico winces, curling up. It’s only now that he’s sitting that he feels the lancing pain in his body. He hisses, looking down at his hand, which instinctively went to his side. He pulls it back and his palm comes up red.

Evidently, he hadn’t gotten out unscathed. He’s been grazed in multiple places, one on his ribcage and a few scattered on his arms and legs. Shit.

Kali doesn’t notice, unable to hear his pained sounds through the gunfire and the screaming. He doesn’t bother telling her, not wanting to distract her from their goal. He can’t be the one to slow them all down. Kali disappears from view, and Nico flicks a weak shadow to push the door closed. He’ll have to rest here for a bit, then rejoin the girls.

* * *

By now the hall is empty, stained red with the blood of her enemies. Kali strolls up to the nearest security camera, stepping on a limb or two on the way. She stares right into the lens, waving the gun in front of it.

“Come and get me.”

* * *

Vanya sprints through the corridors, taking random turn after turn and attacking whoever comes her way. She cracks a man in the skull with the hammer, then trips another when he tries to run. Six snarls and leaps out from behind her, tackling a man trying to sneak up on them. 

Vanya really should’ve taken a gun, but she’s never been good with those, anyway. Instead, she lets Six rip the guy apart, focusing on making sure no one gets away. A lady makes a break for the key code scanner, and Vanya makes sure to beat her to it, swinging the hammer into the scanner and watching it shatter.

She yelps when the woman grabs her by the hair and slams her head into the wall. Six moves to help her, but the guy Vanya tripped grabs her by the waist and lifts her, kicking and screeching. The woman’s grip never yields, smashing Vanya’s head into the wall repeatedly. Vanya’s mind is swimming, and she’s seeing triple of everything. Her vision is going dark, and she thinks, _fuck, I wasn’t ready for this._

She claws at the woman weakly, but then there are more hands, keeping her down, hitting her, and she isn’t sure if it’s because she’s too disoriented or if the lady has backup now. She’s thrown to the ground. A fist- or maybe a foot? Slams into her gut, stealing her breath. She can’t hear Six anymore.

_Oh God._

_Oh God._

_Oh God…_

They’re still hitting her, she’s sure, but she can’t tell; she’s going numb now, and her vision is mostly black. Her mind is floating, going somewhere far, far away where nothing hurts, where all she can hear is the dull, dim thudding of her heart.

Ba-boom… ba-boom… ba-boom… ba-

_BOOM._

Vanya gasps. A jet of ice shoots through her veins, a wave of fire crashing over her as her body jerks. Pressure builds in her chest until it _explodes_ out of her and she falls back to the ground. Her ears are ringing and her skull is pounding. Distantly, she thinks she can hear someone- maybe Six?- but she can’t tell what they’re saying or even if they’re saying anything at all. 

They might be shaking her, but she can’t be sure of that either. All she knows is there’s a distinct feeling of being tugged a little, but it’s fuzzy and fading quickly as her consciousness goes in and out. It’s fine, though. She can find out later, as soon as she’s done taking a nap.

* * *

Nico jolts up, ignoring the flare of pain as he presses his earpiece again. “What? Hello?” He can’t tell who it is on the other end of the line. It doesn’t sound like either Kali or Vanya, but that doesn’t really matter when he can’t even make out what they’re saying. All he can hear are strangled, distressed noises, like someone who’s trying to talk but can’t.

“Who is-?” It dawns on him. “Six?” He takes the responding noise as confirmation, and his heart drops. They gave Six an earpiece, too, just so she can hear what’s going on and stay on the same page as everyone else, but they knew- thought- she wasn’t going to use it otherwise. There’s only one reason why she’d try to vocalise across the earpiece instead of communicating whatever she wanted to Vanya.

_Vanya._

“What- what happened? Are you-? Can you tell me where you are?” A whimper. Fuck. Nico scrambles to his feet, walking as fast as he can while trying not to agitate his bigger wounds. “Uh, okay. You know what? I’ll- figure it out. I’ll find you guys. Just- try to find a place to hide the- the both of you.” Because there’s no fucking way Vanya fucking _died_ today, there’s just no fucking way- “Find a space, maybe block the path if you can, and stay there. Okay? Until I come get you, stay there.”

* * *

Kali finally stops firing and un-mutes her earpiece. She doesn’t know if they can hear her over the other end or even exactly how muting works, but she didn’t want to take any chances. She’s pretty sure she can’t hear anything over the gunshots anyway, but it was better safe than sorry.

The last guy slumps to the ground, and she searches him for a key card. She grins when she pulls one out of his front pocket. _Bingo._ “Finally,” she murmurs, then tries it out on the door. It rejects it. “Fuck!” She kicks the corpse in frustration. “Asshole! What was the point?”

“I see the years have done nothing to stay your temper.” Her heart stops at the sound of that voice, just like it did all those years ago. She’s frozen, unable to turn and face him. “I must admit, I never expected you to return. Mostly because I didn’t believe you would survive, number eight.” Fiery fury floods her veins and she whirls around.

“I am not _number eight,_ ” she spits. “My _name_ is Kali.” Anything else she’d ever planned to say to him is gone, crawling back down her throat and dying in a hole at the sight of the monster who’d ruined her life.

“But you will always be number eight.” His voice is infuriatingly calm, his eyes so cold and his posture so relaxed that one would think he isn’t standing in a blood-spattered room, surrounded by corpses. “Isn’t that what this is all about?” He takes a step toward her, and it takes everything in her being to stand her ground when everything in her wants to back away. “You’re angry with me. So now you’re here to throw a tantrum.” 

“A _tantrum?_ ” It’s so fucking absurd, yet so fucking _typical_ of him that for a moment, Kali can find her words again. “You call this a fucking tantrum?”

“That’s always what it is with you. You couldn’t handle the pressure, so you threw a tantrum. You couldn’t handle your duties, and so you’d throw tantrums. And now, here you are, still angry with me for your own shortcomings and shortsightedness, and with your _short temper,_ you’ve come back to throw yet another- _explosive-_ tantrum. Though I must congratulate you for finding yourself some companions. I was certain that you weren’t capable of that, either.” 

“Fuck you!” She shrieks, frothing with rage. He made her so fucking angry that she couldn’t even speak, and that, if anything, made her angrier. “You- you bastard! You took _everything_ from me and you’re making it my fault? I fucking hate you!”

“Mm, yes. I’ve heard that one before, too. I see there’s nothing new here. How… disappointing.” Kali rears back as if slapped, though a part of her dismays that she’s still so affected by his words. Even from several meters away he somehow manages to sneer down at her. “You’ve always been this way. Petty. Foolish. You fluff yourself up like some peacock, bolstering yourself with false bravado, but in the end you crumble. Like I said, you’ve always fallen short of everything. At the end of the day, number eight, you are weak.” And maybe that’s when something in Kali finally _snaps._

* * *

Nico races through the lab, trailing blood as he goes. It’s mostly empty by now, with a majority of the people either dead or hiding. His heart is thundering in his chest, threatening to escape as he makes turn after turn. “Alright, Six. Try to remember. When you followed Vanya, did you take a left next?” The girl on the other end makes a static-y noise, just once. “Okay. Then, a right?” Two noises, and Nico nods. 

“Okay. Good, good. You’re doing great. Okay, now there are three options. Left, right, and forward. Do you remember going forward?” They keep going back and forth like this, sometimes taking wrong turns and having to trace back and change course, but otherwise they manage to keep good time. Nico has no idea how Kali is doing, but hopes that she’s faring better than they are.

He trudges forward, and eventually he comes across the right hall. “Six. There are three doors. Knock on the one you’re behind.” There’s some shuffling on the other end, and then a hesitant knock coming from one of them. He pushes it open, and immediately slides over to Vanya’s crumpled, bloody form.

“Shit. What happened?” He winces when he remembers Six can’t answer that. “Uh- anyway, I need you to find some clean cloth. It can be clothes or whatever, just- something.” Six races to find clean cloth, while Nico leans in to check Vanya’s pulse. She’s alive.

Thank fuck, he thinks, sagging in relief for just a moment. His back straightens up again. She’s alive for now, but not for long if Nico doesn’t get her help, _fast._ Six returns with clothes she’s torn off their victims, shredding off bits that are splattered with too much blood, and Nico uses them to wipe the blood away and cover whatever wounds he can. 

Vanya remains limp and unresponsive in his hands, and it’s only when Six grabs one of them that he realizes they’re shaking. “Sorry,” he mutters. Six grabs one of the shreds and wraps it around a gash on Vanya’s wrist, taking over for Nico. “I’ll, uh,” he clears his throat. “I’ll try to get a hold of Kali and find some water… or something.” 

But it’s only a few minutes later that something fucking _explodes._

* * *

It doesn’t take long for her to disarm him, but she is caught by the sudden burning in her shoulder, which is when she turns and sees a guard leveling their gun at her. She snarls, then allows herself to disappear. The guard startles, not used to her tactics, but Kali doesn’t give them time to recollect their self. The rage fuels her adrenaline, and she doesn’t even feel the bullet in her arm anymore. 

She takes her pistol and fires it right between their eyes, and they go down. She drops the illusion and turns back to Brenner, aiming her gun at him. “Walk,” She spits, gesturing towards the door. Despite being at her mercy now, he remains calm and impassive. It sends a fresh wave of fury crashing over her. 

She snarls and slams her knee into his groin, sending him to the ground. “I said _walk.”_ And he finally complies, leading her to the room. Her gun stays at his head, and he hobbles in after some hesitation.

“Truly, number eight, you-”

“Shut the fuck _up._ ” She jabs him with the nozzle, as if to remind him of the power she now holds. “I’m so fucking sick of you and your bullshit. I just can’t believe I waited this long to do this.” Just as she steps in behind him, he spins around and looks at the security camera.

“Now.” The door slams shut behind them and locks with a familiar _click_. Kali snorts.

“What? You think I’m scared because we’re locked in here? In case you didn’t notice, I’m the one that chose to bring you here.” One might not understand why, of course, Kali would choose this specific room to take them, but to her it makes perfect sense. 

This is the room that holds the tears of a lost, tortured soul; this is the room that’s drenched in pain and etched with sorrow, whose shadows hold whispers of horrors left untold; this is the room that’s christened with blood and carved from fear, a room that birthed dread and killed hope.

She grew up here.

Kali can almost feel the leather cuffs strapping her down just from the smell of the sterile air, the skitter of lightning across her skin and into her veins from a baton digging into her ribcage. Her scars start to itch, to ache, like they’re fresh and raw and she’s six again, curling up in the corner and crying as she’s berated for her weakness.

“No, number eight, I’m not here to scare you. I’m here to welcome you home.” And suddenly there’s a syringe in his hands and he’s lunging for her. She tries to dodge but cries out when he snatches her by her injured arm. He yanks her closer and she punches him, making him stumble. He tries to stab her with the needle and soon they’re both struggling for it, but it’s a battle that she’s quickly losing due to her injured arm and smaller size. 

He throws her to the ground and she grunts, landing on her bleeding shoulder. Her vision goes white with pain. She gasps and forces herself to roll when she hears him getting closer, just barely avoiding the syringe. The world spins around her and she’s seeing double of everything. Two Brenners advance towards her and she stumbles back, looking for her gun. Where is it? When did she lose it?

“Really, number eight,” the Brenners croon, “Have you gotten _worse_ since we last met?” She can’t even gather her thoughts enough to respond, mind scattered to the corners of the universe. She gives up on her gun, and snatches the nearest sharp thing she lays eyes on. She points it at him and he scoffs. “Really? A scalpel? That’s the best you can do?” She swipes at him and he doesn’t even move. Fuck. Wrong Brenner. 

He shoves her back onto the ground and she curses at how easily she falls. Pain lances through her from her shoulder again. He doesn’t bother rushing, knowing she can’t effectively do anything to him anymore. He opts instead to look down at her, smiling, as if enjoying the sight of her at his mercy again. And he truly must, Kali decides, or he would not be laughing as he is now, taking his sweet time in torturing her. 

“That’s all you’ve got, huh?” He tuts. “What a pity. But I can’t say I’m surprised.” He kneels, leaning into her face until he’s just inches away. “This is all you’ll ever be, number eight.”

She chokes back a sob.

Fuck.

He’s won, she realizes. He’s won, again, just like he always does, because he’s right. She’s weak. She’s so, so fucking weak, and she always will be, because that’s just who she is. Pathetic. Weak. Worthless. Who does she think she is, thinking she could ever prove him wrong? _Fuck._ She can never do anything right, and now it’s all fucking over. She’s just gonna fucking die here, like some fucking idiot, because that’s what she is. _Fucking fuck. I hate this. I hate this. I fucking hate this._

She lets out a strangled noise because the bastard steps on her shoulder, her mind going numb from the pain. _This is it,_ a little voice in the back of her head tells her. _This is the end._ Her vision is fading. _He’s right, and now he’s going to watch you bleed out on the floor, like the pathetic waste you are._ The floor is so cold. _Such a fucking disappointment._ Her brain is going fuzzy. _You’re letting everyone down…_ And she really thinks it’ll end right here, with the sound of Brenner chuckling in her ear, telling her how long he’s waited for this.

_I fucking hate this._

_I don’t want to accept this._

_Why? Why does this have to happen? Why does this have to be real?_

_I don’t want this to be real._

_Does it have to be real?_

_Can’t I change it?_

_I want to change it._

_I want to change what’s real._

Her consciousness fades, and she can swear she hears screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)  
> This is the last chapter I have in my drafts, so that means I'll be on hiatus again lmao


End file.
